


Holiday Question Mark?

by NervousAliceCurious



Series: Escape the Night Fandom 2: The Tokens of Everlock [9]
Category: OET
Genre: Bleeding Out, Gen, Lost In The Middle Of Nowhere, Missing, Ticking Timer, expedition - Freeform, frozen wasteland, gunshot wound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:55:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 21,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21544117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NervousAliceCurious/pseuds/NervousAliceCurious
Summary: Stranded in the snow, they've been put wildly off course. A shame they won't be able to escape the Christmas season so easily.
Relationships: n/a
Series: Escape the Night Fandom 2: The Tokens of Everlock [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1308662
Comments: 97
Kudos: 2





	1. Ice

**Author's Note:**

> The Special.

Candy Pop

_Owww…_

_My f*ing head._

“-kind of place is this?”

"Beats me, but it's starting to feel.....festive”.

NO.

Horrified adrenaline shot through me, and I sat bolt-upright-

"No...no please...no more”.

_No more cutesy Christmas shenanigans!!_

No more vomiting over a trash can while the King and his Queen made cheesy s _ickening complimentary love to each other in front of everyone and their brother-_

"We've still got handcuffs on, though”.

What.

"How are we supposed to do anything?"

Oh.

Justine better watch her double meanings.

"Maybe we should just lie here and wait for death?"

-Well Lisbet did a 180.

Wonder why that was.

Not like she got left alone with the homicidal predator or anything-

"We're not gonna lie here and wait for death”, Mystic proclaimed in an overly-dramatic fashion, “We're gonna move along and wait for........"

Cringily long pause.

I yawned.

_"Santa Claus!"_

-I almost laughed out loud!

"You actually think that Father Christmas is going to come and save us?"

Erica looked so done.

"You're out of your f*g mind. Santa's not real”.

"Of course he is!"

I mean, _I’m_ real, sooo…

"How old are you?"

"-Hey. Y'all need to f*g chill”, the vamp snapped.

"That's all we can do right now”.

Orpheus shivered in his thin clothes.

"Maybe Mystic's right. Maybe we'll get some help”.

"From Father Christmas?"

Stella either was into it, or a skeptic also.

"How do you know Father Christmas isn't real?”

…

From **PENELOPE!!?**

My jaw

_dropped!!?_

"Penelope, you know that---!"

Erica wore a face like she’d just been told her OTP didn’t exist.

"No, none of us do. Father Christmas may be real after all”.

_…D*._

_Would never have expected that from you-_

-!

"I think the cold's getting to her”.

…?

"Well, it's worth a try!"

Hey…

"I'm not gonna just lie here and wait to die-“

I touched my wet shirt.

Blood-red trickling through my fingers…

Ow.

Freezing wind biting into the hole.

A chilling sensation so intense, I felt my whole body shudder-

I couldn’t move my legs.

_Right._

I still had that lovely gunshot wound.

Eating away at me…

**Nanami.**

“Hey”.

I struggled to get up, ignoring the sounds of someone running from us for the billionth millionth time!

“Hey!! Where’s-“

I rolled over instead, flopping into the snow-

“Candy Pop?”

A shadow covering the sun!

-Oh wait,

It was only Mr. Seven-Foot-Five Envy.

“Are you okay!?”

His eyes widened at the growing stain.

“What happened-!?“

He knelt down next to my sorry a*, while Alice stared in horror!

-The kid who’s body I was currently stuck in.

You think this was gonna stick?

“Oh no!!”

The even tinier kid-turned-bear padded over in a flurry of panic!!

“That looks really bad-“

“No way...”

I sounded so weak!

“It’s only…a flesh wound-“

Had to stop and take a brea-

OWWW

Oh my G-

**F*!!**

My lungs on FIRE-

_C-cold…fire…_

“You…!”

His hand hovered over me uncertainly...

“You’re…dying…!!”

“Just an ordinary Tuesday at the North Pole”, I snarked.

_“This is no laughing matter!”_

-Suddenly loud.

Okay then…

I blinked.

“Yeah…well-“

Bailey looked as capable of being concerned as possible.

Despite the unchanging expression.

“We have to _do_ something!”

Alice picked nervously at her fingernails.

“We do-“

“Does somebody have any healing power!?”

Envy tried to get their attention-

Only to find the others talking like _this:_

“Oh my God! She ran away _again!?”_ (Erica)

“We need to go after her-“ (Roi)

“Yeah! This is getting ridiculous!!” (Nikita)

“Let’s go, she’ll die out there if we don’t-“ (Lisbet)

“You are quite right! We must make haste”. (Penelope)

-He gawped.

“Gonna…have…to be…loud…er…”

I smirked.

He _paled._

“Would help, but am shy…” Bailey muttered.

Alice spun.

“GUYS!! CANDY POP'S DYING!!!!”

“-Ha…”

I wheezed.

At the shock on their faces…

“Hahahahahahah-“

***Cough!!* *Cough cough cough-!!!***

Splotches on the snow-

**_“HURRY!!!”_ **

“…I can’t”.

“WHAT!?” We all screamed at once.

“I can’t-I don’t have the proper tools, and all of my Tea Stones were stolen by those clowns”.

“So what do we do!?”

Colleen was the shade of a ghost.

“Get help-duh!!”

Nikita hefted her bat confidently, and started to stride off into the frozen tundra.

“Wait for me!!” Manny yelped.

He scurried after her, while Bretman tagged along…

“Let’s do this, sis!”

“You guys-!!”

Justine bit her lip, then looked back at everyone else.

“Sorry!!”

She took off.

“H-hey wait!!” Ro called after her helplessly.

“Justine-“

Then Tana.

_*Dramatic sigh*._

Tyler and Andrea R. both followed.

“You are **not** leaving me!”

DeStorm.

“N-no, don’t go!!”

Sierra scurried after, closely followed by Teala, Roi…

And then Eva and Oli, respectively.

The authors stood around while MatPat, Gabbie, and Safiya exchanged glances-

“Well!? Let’s _goooo-“_

Erica led the charge, and they all pounded past the horizon.

The SAE marched off, unbothered...

Until not a one of them was bigger than an ant.

Penelope sighed.

“Here’s hoping they succeed”.


	2. Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somebody doesn't want to play by the rules anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S BREAK TIME YEAHHHH-

Alice

We were waiting around for help to get here, when I noticed.

“…Something on your mind?”

“You can tell…?”

Envy snapped to.

“Yeah”.

He’d been staring off into space for the past five minutes.

“Well…it’s just…”

“Just what?”

I was a little worried after what had happened in Halloweenland...

“Aren’t you tired of waiting?”

I almost fell over-

“Waiting?”

“Yeah”.

There was a look in his eyes that I couldn’t quite figure out.

“It’s been over a year, and all we have to show for it is a trail of corpses and three Tokens-and we’re nowhere _near_ close to finding a fourth”.

He sighed exasperatedly.

“Lately, we’ve done nothing but get sucked into drama and quite frankly, I’m sick of it”.

“Sick-“

I felt my heart clench.

“Nothing we do matters anyway, so why not try to do something productive for a change and actually puzzle out where they are?”

“But they told us no one knew-“

“And they didn’t want to _remedy_ that either.

His tone was bitter.

“Alice, for as long as we were with them, we drew a blank, and wasted our time chasing after someone else.

And clearly, we always _will_ if we rely on anyone but us, C.P…Nanami-san...”

I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t-

It was the truth.

“What can we do? We don’t really have a choice but to-“

_“We have to!”_

He sounded borderline desperate.

“We have to, or we’ll be stuck running in circles for the rest of our lives.

I swallowed…

“Nobody deserves that- _you_ don’t deserve that”.

_I’d always thought we could make it through just fine._

“…Envy…”

What could I-

“There…if we were gonna do this…on our own...”

…

If you’re gonna talk, do it now.

“Assuming the elves live here somewhere, would they know how to make a tracker?”

“A what?”

He noticeably perked up.

“A tracker”.

I could barely believe the words coming out of my mouth.

“For the Tokens”.

I took a breath-

“We’d take a little essence from one, give it to them, and then they could build a way for us to follow that trail until we’d discovered up to number seven in gold coins".

Talking faster.

“Of course, we’d have to figure out who’s hanging onto them right at this moment, and figure out a way to get that essence without being told that it’s too hopeless, or we can’t for some reason”.

“That’s a genius idea, Alice!”

“Uh- _Idon’tknow”._

My face went hot.

“-And, for the death challenges, we could stop the lieutenants before they could hurt anyone”.

“Yeah-“

I nodded.

“However…what would we do if the others wouldn’t let us? After what happened to Liza-“

“Liza?”

“Uh-huh”.

**Blood splashing across a clear doorway-**

“They almost got her safely out after she lost an eating thing and then they…didn’t”.

“That was just one time, though”.

“I know, but-“

I gulped.

“What if they actively attempt to get in our way because they think it's impossible?”

"You mean if the _inner circle_ thinks it's impossible".

My gut twisted.

Oh God...

"Y...uh-huh".

“Then we’ll leave”.

Black and white, to him-

“And if it takes weeks to build or some other excuse because anything that can go wrong will?”

He grinned.

“I’m sure if we hint that it’s the only present we want for Christmas, they’ll make an exception".

He reminded me of the Cheshire Cat.

_"Or-“_

“'Or'?”

“Or we could hint that it’s a gift for someone else”.

“But would it be a li-“

“It _wouldn’t_ be a lie if it worked and left Mystic off the hook”.

“Oh-Ohh!”

“Y’all…plotting without me?” Candy Pop asked weakly.

“Yes…” I admitted sheepishly.

“Hah-“

***Cough-cough-***

“Shoulda…known…”

“Don’t worry, nobody who’s planning on fighting will be left behind”.

I winced at his choice of wording.

Because it was the last straw in terms of what I'd already known…

He was past the end of his rope with it all.

Envy

“‘Kay”.

“…”

Was she...?

Candy Pop and I exchanged concerned glances.

“You alright?”

“What’s...up...buttercup?”

“Uh…I guess…”

_I’m kind-of scared._

“Scared?”

“About?” Candy Pop rasped.

“What if everyone here thinks we betrayed them by doing this?”

_What the h*!?_

“If they react like that, then they never were your friends to begin with”.

_You shouldn’t **have** to be afraid of them!!_

“I know…but-“

Although her face didn’t show it, I could see how nervous she was.

“We shouldn’t have to be forced to play some stupid game just because everyone _else_ is too resigned to disobey!”

“D*…right!”

“…You think the Cursed God might try to stop us, too?”

"Then we'll block him. That’s how we've **_been_** managing to get this far, the three of us-“

“Don’t…forget Angel Kid…”

“I hope she’s okay, wherever she is”, Alice murmured.

“She’s an Angel. She’ll be fine”.

We had to believe it.

“Yeah…don’t...worry…”

“Okay”.

We'd been whispering in pretty low voices this entire time.

But if anyone _had_ heard...

_You better not._

_You better **not interfere.**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this idea when I was supposed to be sleeping, so I only got four hours, but I'm fine, I swear-
> 
> Is this the part where we get our dreams crushed. Xd


	3. Lore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Help arrives. A legend is found. And Christmas traditions are discussed. Just your ordinary day at the North Pole...Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Late Christmas everybody!!

“…A tracker?”

Oh…crap.

We forgot about Bailey…

“…That’s smart!”

…And exhale.

-But wait.

“You’re not against it?”

“Huh?”

The bear seemed confused.

“You don’t mind us keeping secrets about this?"

“…Huh?”

“Um-“

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea-“

“Good”.

They looked up at me.

Did that…come out wrong?

Too harsh?

…Maybe, but I wasn’t gonna worry about it.

Not right now, at least.

Alice

Well, uh…

That was…

…

Yeah, I’m more worried.

C.P. cracked a smile.

“Somebody’s…in a…dangerous…mo-“

More coughing.

“H-hey! Don’t strain yourself-“

At Envy’s feet, some flowers bloomed.

-?

That was new…

“I’m…not…”

Blood was dripping down his chin.

“Yes you are”.

“Come…on…”

“-He’ll be fine!”

I cut in, and they both turned to look at me.

“He’ll be fine. Help will get here soon, and he’ll be fine”.

“Alice…”

“He’ll be fine. See?”

There was a moving dot in the distance.

And it’s nose was glowing bright-red.

Candy Pop

_Finally_ , someone delivered…

Make that a _lot_ of someones, i.e. the Reindeer Brigade.

“It’s about time-“ Envy started-

“What…what is it?”

He’d gone paler than usual.

“Penelope-they-“

“What?”

I couldn't see anything from here!

“They’re…fading out, right?”

Alice yawned.

“Mm, tired…”

“Don’t…fall…asleep!” Bailey cried out.

“That’s…how…the…cold……..”

They keeled over with a soft ‘thump’.

“No no, wait, wake up-!!”

The Plant Man frantically tried to rouse the bear, then hurried to hold the kid.

“Wake up-“

A chorus of other thumps.

“…”

Penelope was barely alive.

Ro’s blinking was failing her…

MatPat’s glasses had flown off somewhere from the fall, and Safiya?

She was leaning on Colleen.

Who was halfway to the snow by now.

“Hey…help-“

Joey stretched out a futile hand while JC kinda caved.

Andrea B. wheezed.

“Soon-please-“

Liza practically glomped the antlered critters!

**_“SAVE USSSSSS!!!!”_ **

GloZell sniffled, and sneezed.

LOUDLY.

A rumbling from across the ice.

Lauren jumped.

“A-avalanche!?”

Alex grimaced despite the frost eating his face.

“I h-h-hope not-“

Gabbie sighed.

“Let’s just get out of here-if you guys are offering?”

“They are”, Alison confirmed.

Mortimer clearly couldn’t believe it.

“You speak reindeer?”

“No time for questions-“

She leaned down, and hefted a half-conscious Hypnotist into her arms.

“We need to move”.

Envy

“OW OW CAREFUL-“

“I’m sorry-!“

I was trying to be gentle, but…

“Geez, you-“

“I’m sorry…”

Extra difficulty in doing anything when your hands are tied.

And vines.

-

Poor Vixen gave me the stink-eye.

“I promise I don’t weigh that much”.

She _still_ gave me the stink-eye.

“I promise!”

Then she took off into the atmosphere.

My stomach disappeared.

-

Did I mention they also flew in hyper speed?

I leaned up against the greenhouse glass, because me being sick was exactly what this Christmas needed.

At least the bindings were undone…

I stretched out my vines, and accidentally knocked over a large tree.

The THUD echoed.

...Please tell me no one noticed-

_Young lady?_

"Young lady?"

"H-huh?"

Where did it even go!?

"Oh thank heavenly father! You're alive. Rudolph was certainly right to call the team”.

"R-Rudolph?"

"You didn't recognize the glowing red nose?"

I stepped by a pot, almost swept off a few Poinsettias, and-

"R-Rudolph...the Red-Nosed Reindeer?”

-I knew it! I _knew_ you were real!"

What was with that random bright light!?

“Okay, fine. You win, Mystic”.

"My friends! They're....but how?"

"Rudolph heard your plea for help and signaled the rest of the team”.

There it is…

"Mystic!"

“Mystic-“

“Mystic!!”

_What are you doing, she’s_ right _there-_

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Envy's a little chilled, but he's warming up in the greenhouse”.

Alice, sounding much better now.

I couldn’t help but smile.

"Greenhouse?"

"How else could I make sweets for the good guys, gals, and non-binary pals?"

“*GASP* Is Santa secretly Thomas Sanders?"

That was definitely Bailey.

Glad to see them come around, too.

"Is it true that you give bad people coal?"

Back to Mystic.

"Well, I used to, but then I found out that coal wasn't really so much of a punishment because a lot of kids were using them to draw on the walls with.

So I started sending them sticks, but then I discovered they began using them as magic wands when playing pretend.

After a lot of trial and error, I just decided to send them a note.

But then they used those to make paper airplanes, so in the end, I decided that I would send them nothing”.

"How exactly are you able to live in the North Pole?"

Ines, probably?

"Fat isn't useless down here.

My fat keeps in a lot of heat, and I also make sure the workshop isn't too cold, nor too toasty”.

…I didn’t think it was useless to begin with.

"How does the mailman get letters from the kids to you?"

Alice, why are you so cute.

-I better not have said that out loud.

"There's a magic mailpost where the mailpeople deliver all of the letters. They just put them inside of the chute and whoosh! They all get sent straight to my workshop!"

"Why don't people usually leave things out for the reindeer?"

Funny, I always did-

"That's something I've never been able to answer myself. But the reindeer wish to thank you for the snack and drink you leave out for them, Mystic”.

"Huh?"

“Huh-“

“Huh!?”

"Mystic, do you know what he's talking about?"

Lucy.

"I do! Several years back, I started setting out carrots and water for the reindeer. Everyone seems to forget about all of the hard work they do”.

“I do that too! I thought I was the only one”.

_Alice, why are you so cute._

"Oh yes, and thank you too, Miss Alice. The both of you are very sweet to think of the reindeer. And for the rest of you who do it as well”.

"Do you know the Sugar Plum Fairy?"

"She and I are very good friends. Would you like to visit her sometime?"

NO.

"Yes, please!"

“Nope”.

Movement from somewhere, was he really-

"Can we go back to Spooksville, please??"

"I like it here too!" Alice outvoted.

"I find it quite darling”, Penelope added, “Along with a few people here”.

“-Ha! GAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!"

“-?

I’ll have you know that I am very much straight”.

"Yeah? So's spaghetti until it becomes hot and wet”.

What does that even mean!?

-!

"Where's that light coming from?"

"Seems like it's coming from over by Mystic”.

Oh.

Yeah.

"M-me? I don't see anything”.

"Do you have your glasses on?" Dahlia asked.

-Apparently not:

"Are we actually in.....?"

"This is part of my workshop”.

“-He's stable, but not quite fit to work yet, sir”.

"Give him more time. And more Christmas cheer”.

Oh no.

"I'm allergic”, said Candy Pop.

"Then you're going to have a tough time surviving here. You build immunity and healing when you have Christmas cheer”.

_You’ve gotta be kidding._

C.P. was a demon, they don’t do Christmas cheer-

"No wonder I'm still bleeding”.

"Bleeding?!"

“-No, no, no, dear. You have to rest some more”.

What, did she try to leave or something?

"I'm fine”.

"Better safe than sorry”.

Yup.

"I said I'm fine. Candy Pop _isn't!"_

"You both aren't okay”.

"I'm not about to die!"

"Neither is he”.

"He was just bleeding his guts out!"

"Mystic, just f*g **stop”.**

A sigh from outside, and halfway across the room.

"I'm tired of you trying to take on so much s*”.

What was she planning, anyway?

“So's Envy”.

What-

My tenuous grip on the tree slipped, and it fell back in the hole.

In the glass.

Uhh…

I felt myself flushing, much to my eternal embarrassment.

Everyone was staring at me.

_Everyone._

"Is that true?"

I…nodded…

"It's clear that.....you're taking on too much, and it's getting concerning”.

Let out a sigh.

"I don't know how you don't see that it's wearing you down”.

"I'm just trying to help! I got you all into this s* and I wanna get you out of it”.

_You don’t need to yell, though…_

"We get it. But putting all of that responsibility on your shoulders is just going to make things worse for yourself”, Alice reasoned.

"You need to let us help you too”.

"And besides”, Andrea R. went on, "This isn't on you. The Cursed God was the one who manipulated you in the first place”.

"But I should've been more wary. I should've--"

"We don't do should'ves in the Society”, Jael interrupted, “We can't fix the mistakes we made, and we can't always prevent the future. We need to work on what we have now”.

"Goat lady, Andrea R, and Wonderland are right.

We love you a lot and we want to help, but we can't do that if we don't bear some of that responsibility”.

Azura, whose hair had been cured of spitting flames, and even Dahlia seemed to have improved somewhat with the mutations.

"I don't want you taking on that burden”.

"We don't want you taking it on either, at least not by yourself”.

"Better me than you”.

“-We can discuss this later”.

Santa. Presumably.

"You'd better get some rest. You have a big day of work ahead of you”.

-Did he say work?

"Work?"

"Yes, I can't just let you live here for free. If you work as my elves, I'll keep you safe from whoever is after you”.

_…Why does that-_

"Well, I have to go assign you your new positions. Take care and get a little more rest”.

_How can I rest when I broke your greenhouse?_

He turned out the lights, and I heard the door close.

…

_I’ve got to let him know._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somebody's about to have issues.


	4. Too Legendary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if this isn't what it seems?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second one for today!

I decided that I would send them nothing.

Fat isn't useless down here.

She and I are very good friends. Would you like to visit her sometime?

Then you're going to have a tough time surviving here. You build immunity and healing when you have Christmas cheer.

If you work as my elves, I'll keep you safe from whoever is after you.

_…What’s wrong with these statements._

I don’t know.

But the last two are vaguely like blackmail.

And the Sugarplum fairy…

I can’t get it out of my mouth.

Why is it stuck!?

For Envy…the newest mechanical Harlequin doll.

A Calvin Special.

Cold stamp against the back of my hand, nonononono-

-Huh?

My vision was blurring, tears falling.

I was shivering, **_hard-_**

I wrapped my arms around myself, and tried to calm down, I had to calm down, I had to…figure this out…

Deep breaths, c’mon…deep breaths…

Why would _anyone_ **ever-!**

Be f-friends with s-someone as a-awful as the S-Sugarplum…F-fairy…

…

Maybe…I shouldn’t be speaking to Santa.

Maybe I should be finding a _different_ way to help C.P. out.

But…how…

_Does Mystic still have Tea Stones?_

_-She does. That's how she brought us North in the first place._

...

I could see her bag from here.

Draped right next to the bed.

I could just…leave, and take one.

Perhaps two, depending on what Mr. Claus was planning.

They would forgive me right?

If they knew the reasons for it…

They wouldn’t, would they.

…

_It doesn’t matter._

_Something’s off, and more insurance can only help rather than hurt._

-

I slipped out the door relatively quietly-

The only casualty being the poor doorstop.

It took a nine-foot leap into the shadows.

…

_Okay…_

So far so good.

Despite me usually destroying everything I touch, I _can_ be somewhat of a ghost.

And there it is:

My target, here…

I gently wound a vine inside the gap between fabric and lace, and withdrew a tiny stone.

Coiling neatly into my palm, leaving no sign that it had ever been inside.

I hid that one in a pocket, and sent out the vine again.

And once more.

This one, I didn’t hide.

Instead, I crossed over to where C.P. was resting.

Felt the flush creep in…

_Don’t be shy_ now-!

“I wish…”

The urge to stop whispering hit me, that stupid fear-

“I wish Candy Pop’s wound would become fully healed”.

Gold light went off in my eyes, and for a moment, I couldn’t see a thing!

Blinking the sparkles out of my way, I could only hope that it’d worked…

That I hadn’t woken anyone up in the process.

I went for the door that led to who-knew-what.

Answers, preferably.

_Because if this guy isn’t as jolly as he's supposed to be, then I'll teleport us someplace safer as soon as possible!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Envy, please be careful-


	5. Santa's Workshop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where all your dreams come true?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: May hit upon PTSD, may not, I'm not sure.

No one in the halls: Lucky me.

Then again, what could they really do if I got caught, anyhow?

It’d just make things easier…

Alright.

Sounds of tinkering, getting closer.

I felt inside my pocket for the Wish Stones.

Just in case.

They didn’t notice me coming.

_-It’s like a rainbow of red and green exploded in here._

Some of them were working with toys, and everybody else, well.

The scents of strong candy spoke for themselves.

“-Hey, what are you doing?”

One of them turned to face me-

They _all_ turned to face me, in a giant wave.

…

_That’s…creepy…_

“You’re supposed to be sleeping with everyone else!”

“I wasn’t tired”.

It wasn’t a lie…technically…

“So I thought I’d hang out with you all for a while”.

I pulled out a chair to prove a point, and sat down.

They looked at me like I was an alien from outer space.

“…You can watch. But don’t mess us up!!

Christmas is coming quite soon, you know”.

“I know. I won’t-“

Raised my hand to show them that I mean no harm.

“Okay…”

They went back to their work.

_So far so good…now I just have to figure out how to-_

“You’ve been at the North Pole forever, have you?”

“Mm-hm”.

“Right”.

“All my life!”

“You like it here?”

“It’s the best!”

“So festive!”

“I wouldn’t leave even if I wanted to!”

“…What do you do during the Summer?”

“Relax”.

“Crumbles does a mean Shuffleboard”.

“Bingo is fun-“

“And you’ve been here all your lives”.

“Yup!”

“Pretty sweet…”

“No worries”.

“Has Santa ever told you…have you ever wondered where you came from?”

“Nope”.

“Why would we?”

“It’s so nice in this workshop…”

Who would ever want to leave?

-And they said it in perfect synch, I-

Don’t like that…

“Why do you ask?”

Curious glances, every single eye on me.

“Just wondering”.

I stood up.

“Anyone have an idea of where Santa is?”

“What do you want with him?” one of the youngest ones wondered.

“I had something I wanted to talk to him about, but if he’s busy-“

“Nah, he’s probably in his office”.

“I see”.

I left.

“Good luck on…everything”.

“You too?”

-

Santa in his office, hm?

Wonder if I could…go by sometime and find out for myself where they came from.

Something was still off.

I felt it more than ever!

But I had to be careful…

They’d acted harmless on the surface, to some degree-

I didn’t want to find out what they might do when pushed.

Honestly...

…Could they even _do_ anything?

Logic dictated that they couldn’t-

Not without appearing un-Christmaslike.

No doubt, _he_ wouldn’t like that.

I could hope…

At least I’d learned something _somewhat_ of importance:

He was a secret-keeper.

-

For the rest of the night, I walked around, trying to figure out the lay of this place without getting lost.

It wasn’t as if a map weren’t easy enough to get ahold of:

“Hey, can I have that?”

“Eh? Sure”.

I kept being stared at, but I refused to acknowledge them.

If they wanted a reason, here it was:

‘I’m terrible with directions, so I’m memorizing’.

Again, sort-of a lie.

I peeked into the stables, and…

Red irises peering back at me in the dark of dawn.

Uh…

I swallowed hard.

At least-at least there was a back door-

Worth noting.

I turned, and headed for the others.

Candy Pop

The minute I woke up, I felt better.

I took a glance at the wound.

No blood.

-Wait.

My fingers couldn’t find a hole.

“What the…”

“Something wrong?” Penelope murmured sleepily.

“No”.

-Who’d healed me.

Who.

-

A few minutes later, Santa walked in.

“Ah, you slept nicely, I would assume?”

I saw Envy poke his head into the room, and promptly disappear.

Whoops…

What was he even doing out there anyhow?

When the _h*_ did he leave!?

“I guess…”

Mystic yawned and rubbed her eyeball.

Alice flopped over, and then hopped up straight.

Blinking.

Ro slid out of bed, and smiled-

_There’s a sun in here, too._

-

“While you rested, we made sure to check your sizes. You’ll find your uniforms waiting in the Dressing Room-

Envy

Time to move-!

I retreated down the hallway, and barely managed to fade into a corner before they walked by-!!

Casually, I faded back in at the very end of the line.

On the inside, my heart was pounding into my ears.

“There”.

He twisted the knob, and beckoned everyone in.

Don’t tell me-

-

_I hate it._

_I hate it-_

_Never_ have I hated an outfit more than this.

I didn’t see anyone sewing when I was interrogating the elves, so when did they take down my height-!?

"I look stupid!"

Exactly!

Why did I even bother to take my coat off for thi-

Huh?

“Oh come on”, Andrea R.(?) cajoled from outside, “I think you look cute in it”.

"Yeah! You look so adorable as an elf!”

Rosanna?

_Knock-knock_

"Envy, you coming?"

Oh no.

"Envy, come on!"

No-

"I'm not coming out…I look so dorky-“

"Oh come on”, Mystic tried to reassure me, “It can't look _that_ bad”.

"Yeah!"

Ugh…

I gave up…

Alice grinned at me when I left the ~~tiny closet~~ dressing chamber. Thing.

The other author giggled at me, and my cheeks immediately blazed.

"You look so handsome!"

Sh-she-!?

Her arms were flung around me as far as she could reach, and my body temperature zipped to 134-degrees!!!

"Okay, newbies!"

-So of course, the moment had to be ruined.

Like usual.

-

"Time to organize you into work areas”.

The Head Elf pulled out a list-

"Let's see. Rosanna, Alice, Safiya, Andrea Russett, Matthew, and Mystic, you will be working in the candy-making station with Poppy”.

They all gathered into a group, looking excited for the day to come.

"Nikita, Manny, Bretman, Tyler, Tana, and Joey, you six will be in the seamstress shop working on pajamas with Caramel”.

They got together as well.

“Prepare to have the most fashionable pj’s ever!!” She crowed.

“Penelope, Candy Pop, Envy, Andrea Brooks, Lauren, and Alex, you six will be working in the doll-

**NO.**

_**NO** _

**_NO_ **

**_NO-_ **

Whatever they said next, I didn’t catch.

I couldn’t-

**_No._ **

**_No._ **

_**No** dolls!!_

_**No more** dolls-_

I couldn’t stop shaking…!!!!

_Need to get out of here, I **refuse-**_

Envy?

Envy, you okay?

No no no no no no no no no no no

The world melted around me until it was just a dream.

Something I hadn’t done in a very long time.

-

Alice

We were rushed.

“Alright, it’s time to put you to Christmas Duty!”

They beamed.

We were _rushed._

“Come on, come on…”

“H-hold on!”

I wanted to protest, but I couldn’t see him anymore.

Envy…

_Why dolls!?_

-

Ooh…

Candy canes.

I never ate them, myself, but my brother liked them.

“Here’s what you do:”

Poppy took out a mold, and filled it carefully with the correct colors from melted samples-

“And for the candy:”

More melting sticks of different colors somewhere, into more molds, _yikes-_

“Think you can do it?”

“Mmhm”.

I had no idea.

I lifted the spoon from the bowl and tried not to panic.

“Oh, that’s good!”

“…Yeah”.

Bailey

…He’s gone.

He was there, and then he was gone.

“Envy…?”

I walked around and around, but I didn’t even trip over any feet!

He’d just-

I pushed open the door of the dressing room he’d hidden in.

Nothing.

“Envy-“

_Don’t know!_

_I don’t know…_

“Envy, it’s Bailey!!”

His eye had gotten big and green and then _poof-_

“Can I get a bear hug!!!?”

Nothing.

“Pretty please?”

…

Whoops?

What was this!?

The world flipped, and hazed over, and then-

Oh no.

Candy Pop

We came back, and she was crying a river.

“Uh-oh…”

Ro and the Inner Circle were on it in a flash:

“Oh no, you poor thing-“

“What happened!?”

“Who do I have to kill!??”

“Nikita-“

“What?”

-Didn’t have anything to do with me…

But really.

Thought this kind of thing _wasn’t_ supposed to happen in Toyland.

-

Bailey

Wherever this was, it was super-creepy!

Just a gray, misty place with dead trees everywhere.

“Eek…”

I took a step

and fell down a pit.

“Waaahhhhhh!?”

Something got my arm!!!!!!

Snagged at the last second-

“You okay!?”

“PLANT BOI!”

“…Does that mean you are?"

I clung to his arm like a terrified sloth.

“That was too close…!”

“Yeah. Lucky I heard your scream, otherwise-“

_“Eep…!!”_

He cleared his throat.

“You...were looking for me?”

“Mmhm!”

I couldn’t get the look on his face outta my head!

“I was worried!!”

“Worried…”

He sat down applesauce style, and I carefully tested the ground with a toe.

“Uh-huh!”

“…”

Now that he wasn’t ten feet above me, I could see the tracks…

“Awww noooo!!”

I climbed onto his knee, and wiped at his cheeks!

“Don’t cry-“

“Cry…”

He wiped at them, too.

“Ha…hahahaha-“

“?”

Wha.

“…I expected we’d have some difficulty here…but I didn’t think-“

“Didn’t think what?”

“That they’d go right for my worst fear-“

His voice broke.

“Envy…!”

His shoulders were starting to shudder.

“I don’t want to be back…I don’t want to get near it…I don’t even want to talk about it…”

“It’s okay…it’s okay…”

I was gonna pat his shoulder…

I ended up giving him a super-long hug.

That’s still going.

-

Alice

The next day, I was Candy Duty again.

Envy was gone all day.

Candy Pop was still sitting out to be doubly sure he wasn’t gonna faint on them-

“Has anyone seen Bailey?”

But a head shake was all I ever got.

Mystic was in the room before us.

Crying.

The next day, I was Candy Duty again.

Envy was gone all day.

Candy Pop was sitting out.

"Has anyone seen Bailey?"

Crying.

The next day, I was Candy Duty again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a wonderful World this is...


	6. Nightmare Paradise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secret Santa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Ableism/r-word, verbal abuse in spades, vomiting.

Candy Pop

This turned out to be easier than what they made it sound like.

They listed _way_ too many types of joints.

Just click, and twirl…

Eesh.

Lifeless smilers.

Well, some kid would like them, at any rate.

Probably.

It was several days later, by the way.

By now, they’d basically pronounced me cured.

I could already see myself getting bored.

In the near future, nothing was gonna change.

Nothing.

-

“Hey, everyone!

It’s gonna be Secret Santa in a few days…”

I had to open my big mouth.

I just…had to.

“Please draw a name from the Elf Hat, and prepare a gift!”

Alright, I’ll bite…

HAHAHAHAHA, I got the guy who’s never around.

Fun.

-

Alice

What in the world do I give Nikita!?

_I don’t have a clue…this is out of my league-_

I kinda hoped it’d be…

…

_Every night, I’ve just been passing out._

_I haven’t had a chance to go and find him._

_I feel like a bad friend…_

…

_I wonder if I could ask for an off-day?_

I sighed.

Seriously.

_I’ve gotta do something._

Candy Pop

Slap a few flowers together and…done!

Easy.

‘For Envy’ on a sticker-tape with black marker.

Perfect.

I walked out of the Break Room just in time to watch Mystic run by.

…Okay, this was like, the tenth time.

You’d think Santa would’ve done something by now.

If he liked her so much…

What’s taking so long?

Alice

_What do I do!?_

With each day that passes, I stress a little more.

I try to grasp for an opportunity that’s never there, while throwing around crumpled sheets of paper-rejected ideas.

I can’t do both at once.

I want to, but I’m failing _so_ bad…

I’m _this_ close to snatching the dented, metal bat from the lost-and-found, and handing it over to her myself.

…

Actually, that’s a good idea.

Candy Pop

So.

_The day arrives…_

Alice

_Ohh, I feel awkward…I’m stuck between Ro and Safiya._

I hugged the bat closer to my chest.

The sad pink ribbon I’d looped onto the handle made me worried the elf in charge was gonna blow a gasket.

“You can go in, now”.

“Thanks”, MatPat replied.

He stepped in, and Safiya followed, and I walked in…

Lots.

And lots.

Of elves and friends.

Candy Pop

Look at that.

They were _still_ gone!

Impressive.

Alice

Aw…

My hopes were dashed again…

_-But I’m sure they’re fine!_

Candy Pop

_Mystic takes the spotlight, no surprise, she does that everywhere._

Alice

So many eyes…

_I’d be scared stiff._

"Okay, everyone! Let's do Secret Santa”.

Candy Pop

Haha, I cheated you all.

Alice

_Okay…_

I drew in a long breath.

_Let’s do this._

I headed in Nikita’s general direction…

“Hi hunnie, what’ve you-Is that a bat!?”

“This is for you-“

_“I love it!!”_

She snatched the present from my hands, and undid the ribbon.

Plopped it on top of my head.

“Thanks Alice!”

“You’re welcome…”

I tried not to stagger away in relief.

Candy Pop

What a view.

Lauren and Alex exchanging chocolates and a necklace,

Eva and Oli going with a notebook and gold pen,

Manny and Tyler giving each other make-up gloss and velvet gloves.

I could list more, shapes only too obvious through the wrapping, but right then:

"Did we forget anyone?"

One audible hand in the back.

"No one? Okay, good. Let's start---"

The scrape of a chair.

"Excuse me? But I didn't get a Secret Santa gift”.

“Please unwrap your-“

Mystic cut through the rows, and tapped her on the shoulder.

**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!**

Oh come on now-

"I've been infected with autism!"

What.

"I...I was trying to tell you that I didn't get a Secret Santa gift”.

The girl inched backwards, clearly confused.

"Get out of the party, r*!”

Quiet.

Fast.

“No one wants to catch your disease!"

"W-what?"

"Lemme spell it out for you:

No.

One.

Wants.

You.

Here”.

If shock were a sound-

It would be the hush occupying every single one of Mystic’s friends.

"You're a disgrace to humanity and elf-kind.

What you are, is why your name was taken out of the Secret Santa hat.

Nobody wants you at this party or at any of our other parties!

**Now get out!**

Every face I didn’t know stood up as one, and enveloped her in a circle of pure hate.

“Go away!You heard her.No one wants you!!You’re a freak!Just disappear!!Don’t come back!We don’t need you.We’ll never need you-What kind of idiot would be your friend!?

JUST SHUT THE F* UP, YOU ABLEIST B*S!

Cornered right at the door, she stood there alone.

They’d been buffeted an _inch._

The waterworks hit.

She vanished into the hallway.

_Silence._

We could still hear her cries-

“YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES!!!!”

Ro’s face was beet-red.

Time to go-

Alice

I moved in a blur, still caught in the moment.

_People standing now, indignant, I’m gawping, how did-_

Faced with a sharp-toothed arrow to the chest, how could anyone-

_Uncomprehending, blank screen, let the venom wash free._

Except.

_The elf who’d spoken had an expression of utter triumph._

There’s no erasing that.

I crashed into the stall and shut the door.

I was shivering slightly.

I sank to the floor and

Stress

_vomited._

H-H-How-

But this was supposed to be-

Santa’s Workshop,

happy and kindful place for children

to dream

and write letters

because

because-!!

…!…

What…what was it even for…

“What happened?"

“…?”

“Alice, you don’t look so good…”

“-!”

I jumped from the floor, and grabbed them both in a giant hug!!

-

“I’ve been being beary good and visiting during work”, Bailey explained.

“Yes, and I’ve…I’m not risking getting drafted”.

“You poor thing…”

I smiled wetly.

“I guess you were right to be so careful, both of you…”

"Am sorry...I saw you run away, so I flipped back".

"It's alright..."

“What about you?”

Envy’s eyes held no small amount of concern.

“Are _you_ going to be alright?”

“Yeah…”

I wiped my nose on a piece of toilet paper.

“Yeah, I’ll be alright”.

I unlocked the door.

“I’m gonna go check on her now…thanks guys…!”

“If you need me, just say my name…”

“-And mine too!!”

I nodded, and ran off.

_I will._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefulness?


	7. Another Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to check up on a wounded friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Ableist language, suicidal ideation. Ideas of making it so someone or something can never be born/sub-human.

She was hiding in a hard-to-enter space.

"Mystic? Can we talk to you about what happened at the party?”

Ro’s voice didn’t calm her-it made her stiffen in fear!

That wasn’t like her at all…

"You're not in trouble”, Andrea R. reassured her.

"If anyone's in trouble, it's those elf b*s”.

Two eyeballs peeped out.

-They hugged her.

"I'm sorry”.

"Please don't apologize, darling”.

Penelope sat down beside her, hand rubbing her back…

"The outburst, granted wasn't necessary, but understandable. Them saying all of those horrible things about you at that _stupid_ party.....despicable”.

"This.....wasn't the first time, either”.

What…?

She went to her bed.

Pulled out a tape recorder?

"Some elves in the wood workshop have been talking badly about Delta, Orpheus, and I for the past week.

Not only that, but Poppy deliberately gave me a small job because everyone thinks I can't handle the harder s*.

Listen”.

She hit the play button:

_Poppy said she would give her a small job today and she won't have to come into work from now on._

_But how do you know she won't catch on?_

_She's autistic. She won't be able to tell what we're doing unless it's spelled out right in front of her-_

_They're getting moderate jobs._

_**Their** kind can't stand on their own, so why would they need the pay anyway?_

_It'd be better if **their** kind didn't even exist._

“That's.......horrible”, Safiya condemned.

"Why would they say things like that?"

My chest _hurt…_

"I.....I can't believe this”.

Even _Penelope_ was struck with the viciousness-

Mystic sighed.

"Believe it.

They're all there.

And the worst part is that somedays, I feel like they're right.

That I shouldn't exist”.

“No”.

Lucy.

"They're 100% wrong”.

"That's what I want to believe…But sometimes it's hard.

The few things that keep me going are that it would hurt you all....and I'm worried someone else might follow suit”.

Ro and Andrea R. let out an identical whimper of sadness.

"We'd miss you so much if you weren't alive”, I told her.

"Terribly”, Penelope agreed.

"It's s*y to be told all of that”, Safiya added, “But it doesn't mean they're right”.

"I....I don't think I want to stay here anymore”.

I couldn’t blame her…

Especially since it wasn’t just her who would be forced to suffer.

"But where would we go?"

"I don't know”, MatPat answered, “But this letter might have the answer”.

A pretty silver envelope from his pocket.

How did he get ahold of it?

**To my dearest Mystic.**

“That's.....unexpected”.

She opened it, and read:

_To my dearest Mystic,_

_I have longed to see you for ages._

_I had heard that you were nearby and I want nothing more than to see you and your sister Alice._

What!?

_I know that it seems unexpected to hear this from someone you hardly know, but I lost you two over 18 years ago and I've missed you ever since._

_If it is not too much to ask of you, I wish for you to visit._

What…!!??

_All you need is a storybook and a portal._

_Sincerely,_

_The Queen of Fiction._

I-

**_What!!!!???_ **

"Hang on a second....sister?" 

She turned to me.

"Did....did you know anything about this?"

"No...I feel like this is a trap”.

It had to be!

The only sister in my family was _me._

As far as I knew…

"Hey, as long as it gets us away from the North Pole, I'll take them up on the offer”.

“-Mystic, no!"

"Alice, there's really not much at risk here.

My sanity and self-esteem will be gone if I stay.

I'm the Rudolph of elves here.

You all can stay here if you want, but I'm going to find this Queen of Fiction”.

"You could be falling right into the Cursed God's clutches!"

"At this point, I'm okay with that. The Cursed God may treat me like a child, but he doesn't wish for me to be dead because of 'what I am’”.

"We can help you get through it”, Lucy attempted-

"I've made my decision, I'm going”.

She took both the recorder, and the letter, and stormed out of the room.

-

Ro put her face in her hands.

“That went…well”.

Andrea R. grimaced.

Ro:

“That went awful!”

Uh…

I didn’t know what to-

Andrea R.:

“There’s no sense in finishing up the gift thing now…”

Safiya:

“You’re right”.

Ro:

“Indeed”.

She uncovered her face, eyes filled with new purpose!

“It’s time for us to fix this _wrong!”_

“How?”

What could possibly undo such horrific damage-

Lucy:

"You mean-"

Ro"

“Yes!

We have to find all the elves who’ve ever hurt her, and get them to apologize”.

...

O…kay.

-

“Why should _I_ apologize to that _worthless-!?”_

“Because you were rude, and you need to take responsibility!!”

Ro had re-entered the party, flanked by the rest of us, or at least, most of the rest of us…

Andrea R. nodded.

“You caused this, so you owe us that much”.

“Or else what?”

“Nothing”, Gabbie said seemingly-apathetically, “But, you’re kind-of outnumbered here, so-“

“You really can't say no".

DeStorm froze them all in his icy glare.

The side-conversations and sneers died on their tongues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to fix this.


	8. Another Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All is made right.
> 
> Cw: Ableism. Eugenics?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A break is finally caught!

_We’ve got our guilty elves, now what?_

_To the library!_

_How are you so sure-_

_Because! I’ve been around her long enough that I know._

_Wha-_

_I just know._

-

Andrea R. led us through the halls, while Ro took over upon rearranging ourselves outside the door.

Until we could hear her voice coming in clearer and clearer…

"Hey, you didn't go to the party?"

Jael (I think): “Partying's not really my thing. What about you?"

Mystic sighed: "Long story. So listen....I got this letter and I think it might be a good idea to take them up on the offer”.

_Sound of paper crumpling, must’ve handed over the letter-_

Jael (I think): ”Seems a bit risky. Why do you want to go?"

Mystic: ”The elves here are ableist”.

_Rustling, a click of a button:_

(The same thing we’d heard in our sleeping room).

Jael (I think): “I see. Well, I'm not exactly sure about this. I've lost someone important who went to another world, and I don't want it to happen again”.

Mystic: "At least you're not telling me no outright”.

Jael (I think): “I admit risks are important to take sometimes”.

Mystic: “She's right, you know?"

_Her volume had incre_ ased, was she-

Uh…

Oh…

…

No one dared to speak.

She huffed.

"Alice, Lucy, Andrea, all of you, don't pretend you're not listening in”.

Whoops…

Sheepishly, I slipped out of hiding along with everyone else.

"Why should we--?"

Not this again-

"It's horrible what you've been saying about her!” Ro reiterated for the Main Elf Tormentor.

"How would you feel if you were in her shoes?"

She faltered.

"What? You brought her to get her to apologize to me so I'll stay?"

Mystic…wasn’t having it.

"We brought her to apologize because it's the right thing for her to do”.

"You can't force her to apologize to me, though”.

Then she spun on them-

"Would you actually mean it if you apologized?"

A beat.

"It's just.....the last autistic elf who worked here didn't really care about any of us and was never able to complete her jobs. We've been scared it would happen again”.

. . .

"No autistic person, or elf, is the same”.

Buried anger.

"So I feel extremely hurt that you all have been talking s* about me behind my back, especially the parts about eugenics, all because of a single experience”.

…I couldn’t tell if she felt truly guilty or not.

"I.......I'm sorry for hurting you like that. We thought you wouldn't have known--"

Oof, that did _not_ land well-

"That doesn't change anything. I _do_ know because I've recorded the conversations the elves at the wood workshop have been having about Delta, Orpheus, and me”.

"I know. I've also been saying the same things with the elves at the knitting area where Bailey's working. I've been a real a*h*, to say the least”.

My heart stopped.

The idea that they would’ve had to hear-

"But.....Safiya and the others told me about that letter you got, and I don't want you to run off into something sketchy just because of this. I'd be willing to do my best to keep an open mind, and convince the others to do the same”.

We did?

Oh yeah…

*

_A few minutes before…_

“Hey, Alice!”

Tap on my shoulder-?

“Huh?”

“You never got your present!”

Roi.

Shiny-wrapped in gold and orange foil was a big, stuffed fishy.

“Awww!”

“His name is Rembrandt!”

He grinned proudly.

“Thank you…”

“No problem!”

*

Eheheh…eheheheheh.

Oops.

-

"Listen, Mystic…We're holding Secret Santa again.

We'll redraw names and whoever gets yours will get you a second present as well.

You can open it at next week's party.

And on Christmas day, we're going to have a major celebration and Santa's going to give us all piles of presents and our pay.

I want you to be there, and if anyone tries to tell you to go away, I'll be there to tell them off, and so will your friends.

They care a lot about you, you know.

I'll also talk to Poppy and get her to get you a better job than just getting ingredients”.

"Thanks....."

“Sugarplum”.

Ah…the Sugarplum fairy?

_She was right here the whole time._

"Thanks, Sugarplum. I accept your apology”.

"Thanks. And....if it's not too late, I can get them to let you back in to the party”.

"Sorry, but I feel it'd be a bad experience”.

"I understand. Well, if you want, I can bring you a plate of food from the party”.

The mention of ‘food’, made my stomach spin.

"That'd be nice”.

Uh, can I pass-?

"You all can go back as well if you want”.

“F* that, I wanna wait until they at least learn to respect you”.

Andrea R. stood firm.

"Same”.

Ro nodded.

“I don’t really want to go either…” I admitted.

“No way am I going back there”, Lucy said.

“I’m not interested”, Safiya deadpanned.

“I have better things to do”, Penelope sniffed.

And finally:

“I agree-the party isn’t a good idea”.

-

With that settled, Lucy pitched a new plan:

"We can have our own party. There's a kitchen nearby the dorms”.

Ro:

“THERE IS!!?”

She promptly disappeared.

"Okay then”.

Mystic was giggling softly at our favorite baker’s reaction-

"I guess we're having a dorm Christmas party”.

-

Another party…

I was glad everything had mellowed out from the hideous tension.

“Envy”.

A flower slid into my hair.

I smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peace for now...


	9. The Spanner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone is on their own agenda.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In all due respect, I have no idea why I didn't think of this earlier.

Envy

This didn’t turn out the way I was expecting it to.

I had all these plans to see if this place was gonna be a lie, to get us out of here before it could end in a nightmare.

Who knew I would disappear before it even started.

“You okay?”

Feels like forever ago since she asked me that…

“I’m fine…”

I think.

-She leaned into my side.

I blushed-

“Look at everybody go…”

YouTubers running in and out, Writers stringing up streamers and stapling together magic snowflakes to hang from the ceiling.

It smelled like a bakery from the hallway.

“At this rate, they’ll be having the party earlier than six”.

“Yeah…”

I still needed to ditch the uniform.

_I really should toss it down that pit Bailey nearly fell into._

I never wanted to be a Christmas elf to begin with.

_Which reminds me-_

My fingers brushed smooth stone, and I exhaled.

The Tea Stones.

They hadn’t gotten lost in the reality transition.

_Hm…_

“Alice?”

“Yeah?”

“…Do you know where Candy Pop and Bailey went?”

“Bailey’s sleeping, and I don’t know about C.P…I haven’t seen him since the Secret Santa”.

“Weird…”

“Uh-huh. I guess no one else noticed in the shuffle”.

“That’s usually what happens…”

“…”

“Are you okay?”

“…What did you want to tell me? From back then?”

My voice stuck.

I-we weren’t apart.

For once.

I _could_ tell her-

I-

_Wanted_ to tell her.

Badly.

“I…”

I swallowed.

“I…”

_Come on, say it!!_

“I love you…”

She stared at me for the longest time.

“You do?”

“Um…”

I could feel my cheeks growing hot.

“I’ve loved you for a long while…”

“Aww”.

A smile broke out upon her face.

“I love you too”.

She hugged me.

I slipped my arms around her, feeling weightless.

_Please don’t forget it_ , I silently pleaded with her.

Please don’t forget it.

-

I gave in.

I was only too happy to pull my coat on!

“Finally…”

I opened the door of the changing room, both Wish Stones in my palm.

I’d originally been saving them both for a worst case scenario, but between then and now it had suddenly occurred to me:

“I wish I had one of the Tokens we’d found, along with a Tracker especially for guiding us to the rest, and that the same Token would return to safe-keeping as soon as it had received its essence, became fully-calibrated, and ready to go-also that the Tracker itself could not be tampered with in any way possible in…or out of this reality, and that we’d have at least a chance to save everyone who would’ve died in the challenge process”.

Golden light flash-

I used my vines to hold everything in place while the tiniest sliver was chipped off and fed to the machine.

When it glowed softly, the Token then disappeared, as I had said.

I tucked the tracker into my pocket.

“My last one…”

After this…

“I wish-I just told Alice that I loved her, I want to know why she has to forget it if she does so in the next few days, and if I can’t have that-then I want to visit her on the outside of this fictional place so I can say it and she won’t forget it and that nothing, not even a deus ex machina, can undo a word of any of this!”

A second golden flash.

When it faded, I was standing in nowhere.

I would’ve panicked, if not for how bright it was-

I could see a chain of images flashing by, and at the end of it all-

I love you

Said at the end of some world caught between Wonder and Neverland.

…

You mean…

“I have to wait!? Why do I have to wait!!?”

Anger flushed through my veins.

“That’s not-who is responsible? _Show me!!!”_

The images shifted and swirled until-

Bright hair, blue eyes.

“Mystic…!”

I should’ve known.

My eyes burned.

_Leave it to **her** to reach through the screen and try to control me-_

I shook my head.

“I’m not playing anymore-there’s still half my wish to be granted!!”

The energy kicked up, flowing, bringing me to where I’d hoped-

“ALICE!!!”

Her outline, surprise.

“ALICE, CAN YOU HEAR ME!!?”

I thrust my arms into the air, in vain?

Or would I be able to touch her…

“I LOVE YOU!!!”

I tried…

“I love you…”

I thought I heard, right in my ear.

As the changing room materialized…

‘I know’.

-

My breaths were ragged.

Just like that, I was about to snap.

_Don’t explode-_

_Dont explode._

The Tracker.

_I have to give it to her-_

_She's not going to be happy with me, but still._

It'll _help us._

_It won’t be turned down, right?_

And then-

Keep it quiet.

How was I supposed to keep this much fury quiet?

_I’ll have to find some way…_

_I don't want to ruin anything._

I could wait and confront her later.

I _could_ do that, but this cannot wait.

They’ll want the Tracker now.

Alice

“Hey, you’re back!”

“Yes, that elf suit was a real pain”.

“Hehe”.

I saw him smile.

“Do you think you could do something for me?”

“Sure”.

He stuck his hand into his pocket, and-

“Wh-is that-!?”

“It is”.

I blinked several times.

“How did you-“

Then it hit me.

“Oh! The elves-“

“It…wasn’t them”.

For some reason, he seemed kind-of…guilty?

“Could you give this to her? Please?”

“Yeah, but…how come you can’t?”

“I’m feeling under the weather…”

“You alright?”

“I’ll be fine”.

I took the gadget from him…it was so warm, I jumped!

“Whoa!”

“It’s definitely a handful”.

“Oof, heh…”

“-I'll be turning in now, have fun".

“Wait-“

I grabbed his hand-

“After Mystic and I talk, could you…talk to me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof.


	10. Scarlet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're caught red-handed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Owwwwch, my poor boi!
> 
> Cw: hypnosis, stalking.

“Sure…”

I said it, but-

I could feel my heart rate increase.

She wouldn’t like what I had to confess…

-What the-!?

Some kind of white glow burst from nowhere, illuminating everything in its path-

I shielded my eyes from the glare!!

An elbow jostled by me, and when it finally faded…

"What was _that_ all about?" 

Mystic was standing there, looking completely confused.

"Why's everyone looking at me like that?"

-

It was still there.

Just…fainter.

"Um....."

Alice tentatively broke the hush.

"You're kinda......glowing white”.

"Glowing white?"

A few people brought her to a mirror…

It winked out completely.

Then _flourished-_

"Oh my God! Is that what happened on the first night? Why is this happening?"

She sounded genuinely excited.

"I.....I don't know”.

Even Penelope was at a loss to explain it.

"Well, is this a good thing?"

"I don't know that either”.

"It _looks_ like a good thing”, Alice opted.

"Looks can be deceiving”.

"I dunno”.

Andrea R. chewed her lip.

"White is usually used to represent peace, right?"

That’s not what I’d ever heard of…

She nodded, anyhow.

"It also feels......nice. Warm and comforting. Like an angel's hugging me”.

Many smiles, yet also a healthy amount of worry.

"Well, it sounds like this happened before”.

The Hypnotist.

You…it did.

It’d already been pointed out that it happened before.

"What I'm curious about is Sugarplum's reaction-She acted like she just saw God for the first time”.

...’Saw God’?

"It seems that she may know something that we don’t”.

"That much I can tell. The question is what does _she_ know that _we_ don't?"

"Well, we're gonna have to ask her”, Andrea…B. concluded.

"Who should do it?"

"Maybe you should do it. You did suggest us asking”.

"I'll come too”, Eva volunteered.

"Same”.

Sierra…

"I'll come as well”, from Oli.

(Erica made a happy noise at that, not unlike a tire deflation).

"Count me in”, GloZell added, “If this is something from the Lord, I'd like to know what it is”.

"Looks like we've got a season 1 crew going on”, Delta commented.

"Seems so”.

Lucy couldn’t have been happier.

"Am excited for this!"

Oh-Bailey-!

"And for the rest of the party!"

I hadn’t realized they’d woken.

“-Ro! You never got your Secret Santa gift."

"Don't worry, it's on my bed”.

"You should open it”.

"Okay!"

The present in question being a set of cupcakes.

"Mystic! This is so sweet of you!!”

"Wha--who said it was from me?"

"You don't exactly have a good poker face, Mystic”, Delta exposed.

"Yeah, your feelings are usually pretty out in the open”, Ines went on, “So I think it's obvious that you're Ro's Secret Santa”.

"Well”, Erica challenged, “She's not really so much of a 'Secret' Santa now, is she?"

"No, I guess not”.

She blushed, and I started to tune things out.

Getting a bit inane…

“-Hey, Envy”.

-My attention immediately returned.

"You said you had something to tell me. What was it?"

Wh-

"I.....I just told you!"

"You....did?”

Her eyes were clueless.

"How....what.....? What about the tracker? The one we could use to find the tokens?"

"Tracker?"

You never gave me a tracker.

"Hey, did anyone else see a flash of red?”

At those words-

I knew.

"Alice, what do you last remember?"

"I dunno”.

She shrugged.

“I thought I felt something grab me, but then....everything's a blur”.

"N...No! I wished for this to not happen! I used the tea stones!"

"You did WHAT?"

Too late.

I realized too late-

"You STOLE my teastones?"

I-

Technically-

"No, I---"

"Don't you know I put a wish on them so only _I_ could use them?

And you were trying to get a token tracker and end this whole thing?

The one thing that makes me feel like I actually have a purpose in life?

That makes me feel like I'm actually important for once!!?”

Wh-do you-even _hear_ yourself!!?

"I hate you!"

She ran out of the room in tears.

-

_…Your purpose in life is to be **stalked?**_

_By people who **may** love you, but in a twisted, sickening way!?_

_I thought you didn’t like that!!_

_I thought you didn’t **want** your friends to die._

_I thought you wanted it to be done._

_So we’d all be at peace._

_That’s…what I thought…_

_That didn’t mean…_

_That didn’t mean you had to up and leave your friends when the Cursed God was defeated, and we were all safe for once…_

_Didn’t you want the system to be cheated!??_

_I know taking from you was wrong, but…I knew you’d do this._

_I didn’t know you’d put a spell on them…_

_How did…_

_How did any of the wishes work, then?!_

_Candy Pop,_

_The Tracker,_

_Alice…_

_Was it Lilith?_

_I…I have no idea._

_…_

_I just wanted to do something._

_Because no one was doing anything-_

I never spoke any of it.

I couldn’t move.

This is _not_ how I wanted anyone to learn-

That I’d done what I had.

At _all._

“Envy?”

Hand in mine…

“Envy, are you okay?”

She wasn’t angry.

Why was she not angry?

I looked away, feeling shame drown out the rage I’d tried to hide-

“We gotta go after her!”

She went for the door; my feet stayed put.

“Come on…”

“…”

“Please?”

“…”

“With a cherry?”

I smiled a little at that, it was impossible not to.

“…I’m sorry…”

“I know”.

-

We made it to a random room to find a giant crowd blocking the door, and Penelope furiously rattling the knob.

“Excuse me, excuse me-“

Alice wormed her way through to where she stood, and knocked.

"Mystic?" 

I was close enough to hear:

_"Go away."_

"I just wanna talk to you”.

_"I don't wanna talk to anyone right now”._

"Please? It's really important”.

.. .

_"What is it?"_

_"Oh, don't listen to her…”_

!

Lilith…?

She was still here!?

“Alice, if you would step to the side?”

“Uh-huh-“

Penelope went back to it, I had an urge to help her…

But would she really want it?

Ten minutes later, she kicked out with her heel, and the whole handle gave.

-

"Take your hands off of her, Lilith!" 

She charged in, and everyone followed.

I couldn’t see very well-

"You ruined everything again. Mystic was about to have a loving mother”.

Speaking of, she was lying on the ground in a dead faint.

"Enough of your bodewash! We're taking her with us”.

"Really? I think my lord would beg to differ”.

"Your 'lord' is an emotionally-abusive p*k”, Erica yelled.

"There's no way any of us are letting him get to her”.

-Meanwhile, I noticed a pile of broken gears and snapped wires in the far corner.

"Th-the tracker!"

My heart cracked.

"Oh, that?”

She sounded so dismissive…

“I simply 'borrowed' it from your little friend Alice”.

"What?" Alice asked.

"I don't remember that happening”.

"That's because I made sure you forgot, dearie. You do know that I am quite skilled in hypnosis, don't you?"

How on earth could we ever forget that.

"Okay, look”, Sierra spoke up.

“ I don't know who you are-"

"Lilith Divola”.

"Okay then. I don't know why you're here-"

"To take this sweet young girl back to my lord-"

"Just leave Mystic alone!"

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't do that. And I certainly can't let you backtalk to me either”.

Slowly, she began to creep towards her.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"Oh nothing”.

Yeah right.

"I simply wanted to show you my eyes. My lovely red eyes”.

"Um, I'm good”.

A peal of nervous laughter.

"Oh, but I insist, dear”.

Her irises started to gleam…

"Get away from her!" 

-If it weren’t for that other wish she’d sprung on me!!

I would’ve been able to stop this-

"No, no, no. Pay no mind to him, dear bunny”.

"D-dear bunny?"

"Yes. You seem so sweet and timid, like an adorable, little, bunny rabbit.

And you are quite darling, so it feels only fitting to call you dear bunny, don't you agree?”

Like a puppet on a string, she nodded!

"Now just pay attention to my eyes and my voice”.

_No, don’t-!_

Eva and Teala did their best to pull her away, but-

Lilith just swooped her neatly into her chest, where not a one of us could reach!

"Listen to my voice.....erm, what's your name, dear bunny?"

"Sierra”.

"Sierra. How lovely. Now, Sierra, it seems that that warmth is making you quite tired. So very tired. Isn't that right?”

She seemed to sag in her arms…

"And you feel so relaxed, almost like you're floating. And you feel so tired that you could just.....

Sleep

With a snap, she was down to the floor.

-

"What are you doing?" Eva cried out.

"Where are you taking them?"

Kneeling, the evil woman lifted both girls.

A satisfied smirk on her face.

"Oh, well....I think dear bunny here needs a slight attitude adjustment”.

“B*, if she needs an attitude adjustment from just standing up to you, then what the f* do I need?"

Brushed Nikita off so casually…

"I'll be going for now, but I certainly wouldn't mind bringing back a few more to my lord”.

_Now,_ everyone pounced.

She disappeared in a flash of light.

-

“No, Sierra!!” Eva screamed.

“Mystic!!” Ro wailed.

“We have to get them back-!!!” Andrea R. cried out-

Chatter.

So much chatter.

It-

Was all my fault.

Wasn’t it.

I slid past distraught faces until I found the pile of scrap.

_I can’t believe…she broke it._

Gathering up the pieces as best as I could, if I could just find a _plant_ here.

I could put it together again.

And then it would work.

It _had_ to.

Didn’t it?

It was our best chance.

I wasn’t…I wasn’t just going to throw it aside.

I just… _wasn’t._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooofff.


	11. A Letter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It never was real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The return of everyone's favorite Jester!

Candy Pop

I walked back to find a group huddle.

"Hey-You wanna take Eva, Oli, and Glozell and go find out what was up with that glow thing Mystic had?"

It was the other Andrea.

"Oh, 100%”, Eva enthusiastically confirmed.

Meanwhile-

"I can't.....It's destroyed! How......how did it get this bad?”

Envy, scooping up a pile of metallic junk.

"Oh wow, that looks completely broken”.

"You don't say”, he spat.

_-Well_ somebody’s _not happy._

"You guys going to find out what was up with Mystic?" Tana chirped.

"I wanna go too”.

"Okay. Oli, Eva, Glozell! We're gonna go talk to them about.....the thing”.

Hmm?

_A secret?_

"We're coming. We're coming”, GloZell insisted.

"I wanna go too!" Roi called out.

(Stella squealed).

Huh.

_Eh, well…it has nothing to do with me._

“Candy Pop!”

_-Hello, Alice._

“Where’ve you been-“

“Nice to see you too”.

“I’m sorry-“

“I’m kidding”.

“Oh”.

She sighed.

“You missed a lot of cruddy stuff”.

“I bet I did”.

Nodded at _him,_ for one-

“What’s his deal?”

“Um…”

I watched him brazenly disappear through the doorway-

“He kind-of…you know that Tracker thing we were gonna make?”

“Yeah?”

“…He did it himself”.

Envy

_If._

There _was_ no ‘if’.

The greenhouse full of poinsettias and fir trees.

Wreaths and wrapped garlands of ivy…

I could fix it.

It was a short walk to get there.

I _could_ fix it!

I didn’t dare tell anyone where I was going.

What I would be doing.

Didn’t want to risk them thinking the same.

That it shouldn’t even exist-

_No way._

-

Circuits scattered across the surface of the table.

What did she do…

Screen shattered.

Avoid being cut.

Leaves fluttered, winding over the mess, sifting it into order.

Gently connecting pieces, the framework of a skeleton, fitting each component in place.

The soft, golden light never did go out.

LED stuttered.

Was it…?

Had I done it?

I lightly tapped the side.

Neon sparks fizzed, and then died.

…

I tapped it harder.

Gold went off in my face-

I coughed, burning smoke in my lungs.

**Bitter.**

But it was working.

I smiled.

I was strongly tempted to try it out here and now.

However…

We had others to rescue.

-But after that!

The first thing I would be doing was...

Candy Pop

“So that’s it, huh?”

“Mm-hm…”

-I’d just gotten the Spark-Notes version.

“Whoops…guess they broke him”.

“What!?”

“You missed it, didn’t you?”

“Missed what!!?”

“Him snapping at me”.

"-!?"

While she digested that, the Clue Crew came stumbling back in.

"Guys, where have you been?" Joey asked them.

"We got trapped in the library”, Eva explained, “And we had to do this, like, mini-escape room, but guys, we need to leave the North Pole. Like, now!”

"Well yeah”, Alice said matter-of-factly, shaking off the shock for another day.

"We're not safe now that Lilith knows where we are”.

"No, this is worse. The elves kept running off from us, and then in the library, we found these blueprints”.

_Oho?_

Tana whipped them from nowhere on cue, along with a miscellaneous bottle.

"What is that?”

Justine squinted.

"It looks like some sort of....coffin”, Safiya supposed.

"It's not a coffin. Read the note”.

We all peered over Eva’s shoulders…

_The chamber of innocence requires a being that radiates pure innocence in order to power the North Pole._

_To identify the one who holds such a power, whenever they are placed in a situation where they experience wonder or joy, there will be a glowing white aura surrounding them._

_The brighter the aura, the more powerful their wonder and joy are._

**HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!**

I _knew_ Christmas Spirit was overrated!!

**_Santa's a dirty liar…_ **

"Oh f*”.

Andrea R.’s face went pale.

"That aura means she--"

"-Can become their next power source”, Tana finished.

"Guys.....where's the other Andrea?"

Oli was looking left and right-

"There's only one explanation”, Safiya gasped dramatically.

"Lilith's returned”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to hurry-


	12. Hate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We lost one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge blow-

Envy

I was walking back, when I thought-

“Who’s there!?”

Prickling over my spine.

Eyes on me, but I couldn’t tell where!

“Show your-!!”

An arm snapped around me, pinning me-

“Who are you!? Let me go-“

“Oh you’ll know soon enough”.

“Andrea!?”

“Nope, she’s gone”.

“That can’t be true-“

“And soon, this will be”.

I followed her gaze to the Tracker…

“No”.

“Give it up”.

“No!”

I fought-

Her sharp nails pried it out of my grip despite that!

“Too bad, so sad”.

“What are you-“

“Bye-bye”.

-

"Lilith's back?" Justine.

"Is there any chance she could be avoided?" Lauren.

"I don't know-I don't even understand why she took Sierra or Andrea”. Tyler.

"Well, the sooner we can find her, the sooner she can be broken free of her---" Alison.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Her voice.

It didn’t sound like-

"Don't.....please....Andrea!"

"I do apologize, but she will _not_ be listening to you”.

Lilith…

_When will you just go away!?_

"She only obeys me. Aundrea, please turn that pesky device into smithereens”.

"Yes, my lady”.

It smacked the floor.

And then she jumped on it like an irritated cartoon character.

Until her heels revealed an elaborate pattern of dust.

"A...Andrea!"

This couldn’t be happening.

I’d just-

_I **just** fixed it-_

"Well done, dark mistress”.

She was only too pleased with herself.

"Now let us return to the castle”.

-Not without making eye contact to someone else.

The YouTuber in the red coat.

Teala?

"But.....let's take this one with us”.

I blinked, and she was right in front of the poor girl-

_Also_ caught.

"Teala!” Alice shouted-

"Envy, save her!"

I stabbed my boot into her instep, and sent vines from my hand-

They disappeared.

-

“No! Teala!!” Roi ran to where she’d been standing only a few seconds before-

“Teala!!!” Eva whipped her hat off in righteous indignation.

“First Sierra, now-“

“-Envy!!”

Alice ran to me, closely followed by Candy Pop-

“Are you-“

“It’s gone”.

I dropped to my knees, trying in vain to gather up the dust…

“It’s gone, and we’re losing everyone!!”

“Maybe it could be fixed…again?”

“I…I don’t…”

_I don’t know._

“I don’t want to give up…”

It was barely a whisper.

“I don’t _want_ to…”

“The universe must not like you”, was his helpful remark.

I gave him a glare, and he shut his mouth quick.

“I’ll get a new one”.

“Envy, to do that, wouldn’t you have to go take another Tea Stone?”

“…There has to be some way!”

“Yeah, but-“

“There just HAS to be!!”

I felt a wave emanate off of me-

Vines crunched through tile, the walls…

“You really think you can get away with anything around here?”

C.P. barked a laugh.

_“I_ couldn’t beat the system. _I_ couldn’t”.

“Maybe someone _**should!!”**_

More damage, I was **done** caring.

“Envy, what is this…”

Alice gripped onto my arm, knuckles turning white.

“What is that!?”

This close.

_I was **this** close-_

“We’ll find her. We’ll find _all_ of them”.

“Envy-“

“I’ll tear this place apart, and then _no one-“_

My irises were burning _hot,_ it was almost painful.

**“Will ever be hurt”.**

Claws were finally coming out.

**“We can stop humoring _Fate_ now!!!”**

“-Do I have permission to knock him senseless, or should I let him vent for the evulz?”

“Candy Pop!!”

“What?”

“Envy STOP!!!”

-I almost threw her off.

“Envy stop it…”

**I don’t want to stop.**

**“I’m so sorry…”**

A vine twined around her waist, and pushed her out the door-

_**I shattered it all.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this rate, we're gonna lose everyone, haha-


	13. Spiral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's left?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deep down the rabbit hole we are...

Alice

My back thudded against the ground, and the air crushed out of my lungs!!

“Ow…ow…!”

I struggled to draw in a breath, what-

_What did he just do!!?_

Rolling over onto my side, I heard a great CRASSSHHH!!!!

My heart hammered into my rib cage!!

Scary racket!

Scrambling upright, I raced for the door-

The floor was **gone.**

An empty, jagged shaft down, down, down…

It was dizzying to look into.

_Envy…_

Shaking fingertips chipped into the frame.

I was afraid,

For _him!_

Ever since we’d arrived here, I’d felt like we were falling away from each other…

And _this._

This…this… _chasm_ in front of me.

“GUYS!!??”

This seemed like a final straw.

But I didn’t want it to be.

Candy Pop

Ooookay-

BAD idea-

Screams echoed as we all fell to what would probably be our doom.

My head **thwacked** against stone-

Bailey

_Eeeep…_

My poor bear nose hurt…

I unstuck my muzzle from the rocky-things, in time to see Plant Boi kaboom a hole through the wall, and leave!

"Is....is he gonna turn evil?" Lauren worried.

"But....Envy's so sweet. Has this ever happened before?" Eva was very flustered.

"And how do we stop him?"

Andrea R. paced.

"I wish I knew”, Calliope sighed.

_Even she didn’t…!?_

"I think I may know of a way”.

-Ooh, but Alison did!!

"Well, tell us!" GloZell huffed.

But she was probably mad because her furry critter had fallen off.

_Breeeattthhhhhh_

"Someone in his family may be able to sense that he's become like that. The only problem is I don't know if she's alive”.

"How do you know her?" Safiya asked-

"She used to be a partner of the Society. Not part of it, but a _partner_ of it.

She and I worked closely on many navigational and blade-to-blade combats.

I haven't seen her in ages, though, so there's a chance that she's--"

_That she’s what?_

BOOM!

Crack from the ceiling, a pirate lady with a big knife!!

"Oh my God!"

Joey skidded away in a panic!!

"It's her!"

_Her who!!_

"It's Jezebel!"

_Alex smiled, I’m glad he’s happy._

"It's the woman who nearly cut my throat!" Colleen screeched-

"And tried to cut off my arm!"

Ro was all jittery!

Then _everybody_ skidded, except for Calliope, Jael, Ryu, Alison, and an unconscious jester, but I pulled him by myself, because I’m strong bear.

"What are you doing? She's dangerous!”

"Dangerous? Maybe. But I highly doubt she's going to be dangerous to _us._ On the contrary, I think she's here to help us."

They smirked!

"'S'been too long, Alison. Didn't fink ye'd end up 'ere”.

"Okay, that sounds like almost full-on Cockney”, Safiya observed.

"That's not entirely like how Jezebel speaks”.

Aww, now he was sad.

"That's 'cause I ain't Jezebel, 'oever she is”.

She was from ETN!

S4, ep. 8-

"I'm someone be'er. An' I fink I can 'elp ye wif ye li'l situation wif Envy”.

_Yes! Help us!!_

"How do you know Envy?" I asked because I was curious.

"'S'cause 'e's me younger brovver”.

Ohhhh!?

"S'prised 'e never told ye 'bout me”.

"Wait, so that makes you--“

"---'is older sister”.

"Did Jezebel have a younger brother?"

_Oop._

"Ye can't stop wif ye wishful-finkin’”.

Eye-roll.

"I ain't Miss Jezebel”.

"Well, if you're not Miss Jezebel”, Bretman said suspiciously, “Then who are you?"

Her knife spun in the air five times before she sheathed it in her belt.

"My name's Ivy. Ivy Flora”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Perhaps not.


	14. Remember Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hugs, yay!

Bailey

_Quiet…_

This was good, right?

"Okay, is that true? Are you really saying that you could help us calm down Envy?" Lauren said all quavery-like.

"Indeed. Matter a fact, I'm pro'bly one a the only ones who can. So where is 'e?"

"We don't exactly know”, Safiya sighed, “He kinda stormed off that way”.

Through the big hole.

"Ah, yeah I can sense 'im. C'mon”.

She ran, but I stayed because Candy Pop wasn’t looking too good...again...

Oh dear...

** Envy **

**I had no idea where this chamber was, but I’d unearth it or bring the whole workshop tumbling down.**

**The vines were already tearing it apart with each step I took.**

**Wouldn’t take much.**

**I pulled, and the walls caved.**

**The ceiling crumbled-**

**Ground cleaving into fractures on its own.**

**Tremors rocked the hallway.**

**Barely keeping my balance, I strained to make out anything even remotely resembling an innocence container-**

**Clawed to shreds the shower of debris in my way.**

**I bust through into an empty room…**

"Oy! Envy!"

**What _now!?_**

"What's goin' on? This ain't like ye!"

_**I don't have** _ **time** _**for this!!** _

**"Who goes there?"**

"Ye don't remember me, brovver?"

**. . .**

**H-huh?**

**"No....it can't be.....you.....she's dead”.**

"I dunno 'o told ye I was dead, but they're dead wrong. It's the real me. So 'ow's 'bout ye calm down an' we can talk this over?"

**I…vy…**

**I wanted to…I wanted to keep fighting** …back…

My vines-

They retracted.

I felt the burning in my eyes subside.

"I....Ivy! Is....is this.....This isn't a dream, right?"

She was there…

Smiling in front of me.

"No, it's one 'undred percent real”.

"I.....I can't believe....Ivy!"

And then I was really hugging her after _forever-_

I couldn’t hold it in anymore…

I couldn’t keep from crying.

"I thought I'd lost you for good!"

"Ah! Ye know me be'er than that. I don't give up so eas'ly”.

Yeah…

You never did.

_I…_

_I’m sorry…_

_I’m so...so...sorry..._

-

"So you two really are siblings”.

Alex groaned…

"And she's not Jezebel”.

"Okay, 'o the bloody ‘e* is Jezebel?"

"She was this....pirate woman who threatened to cut my throat”, Colleen explained.

"And she had this ex-boyfriend named Rorik--" Bretman added.

"Boyfriend? Never 'ad many a those. My last one made me realize I don't really like guys as much as girls”.

"Who was he?"

I didn’t remember her ever having-

"Eh, that's not important right now. Right now, I'm sensin' we're short a few members”.

"Yeah, some of our friends got kidnapped by this woman named Lilith”, Ro informed.

She growled.

"A course it's Lilith, that b*. Well, no time te waste. Let's go, Envy”.

"Wait!"

Penelope tried to stop us-

"We first need to come up with a--"

She was speaking to empty air.

-

It didn’t take us long to travel to where Mystic, Sierra, and Teala were being held:

The castle of the Cursed God.

Because of _course,_ he just had to own one.

“There they are!”

She jumped for the window, and I hurried to follow-

**CRASH!**

I ended up entering first.

The evil redhead spun in a rage, but I was too quick.

Two of her captives broke away from the wall, and my vines did the rest to bring them to safety.

-Oh no.

Mystic was _not_ going to be happy to see me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A good stroke of luck! But where's Teala?


	15. Conflict

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A difference of opinion.
> 
> Cw: Stalking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No breaks to be had.

We teleported far enough away that we'd be safe, and that was when:

“Who is she?”

-Yup.

I knew she would say that.

"Oh, uh, I think she can introduce herself”.

"Hmm?"

She stopped staring at nothing, and met Mystic’s eyes.

"'Ello, 'ello, 'ello, ‘o do we 'ave 'ere?"

_-Up to her old theatrics again, I see…_

"Tell them who you are!"

"Now don't be rude, brovver!"

_I wasn’t trying to be-_

"You never told us you had a sister!" Sierra gasped.

"I.....I thought she was a goner”.

_It’d also…never come up._

"Name's Ivy. Ivy Flora.

An you, love?"

She lit up like a Christmas tree.

_I can’t believe I just thought that._

Ivy giggled at the reaction.

"Oh, this one's a cutie. I fink me instincts are makin' a good decision right now”.

_Good decision!?_

"Ivy! Not right away!!”

"Oh relax, brovver. You can suffer a slow burn if ya want, but I ain't puttin' me'self frough that.

I fink I'm gonna fall in love wif this one”.

S-slow burn!?

H-how-

I felt a blush coming on…

I quickly slapped a hand over my cheek.

_How could she possibly know!!?_

"Actually I fink I already 'ave”.

She got closer to her…

The other girl visibly gulped.

"M-Mystic”.

More giggling.

What was with all the giggling!!?

"Oh this one's definitely a cutie, Envy. Look at 'er, wif 'er li'l button nose an' sweet eyes”.

-Just like that, the one of her affections gave me the murderous glare I’d been expecting ever since we'd rescued her.

"Why did you do it? Why did you take _my_ Tea Stones? Why are you trying to ruin _my_ story? My purpose?”

"Your purpose in life is to be stalked?"

"That was the first thing that came to your mind?"

"You're being chased after by people who claim to love you, and then you stay with them because they show you some affection!"

_Regardless of whether or not they were evil or out of their minds!!_

"How could I _not_ think that that was what you meant?"

"It _wasn't._ I want to be the hero! _That's_ my purpose here!"

_Yet you’re not doing a thing._

The rage was threatening to come back…

"I want to _help_ you be the hero!"

All I ever _wanted_ to do was help-

"And yet you tried to cheat the system? End the story earlier? You didn't ask if I _wanted_ the tracker!

You didn't even ask to borrow the Tea Stones!"

Why _wouldn’t_ anyone want the Tracker!?

Why _wouldn’t_ anyone want to be free of this nightmare if they had the chance?

Yes, what I did to get it was wrong, but-

"A hero would've taken the initiative!"

You _claim_ you are, but-

_You're not thinking of anyone else, are you?_

"She didn't take the initiative, because she's not meant to be the hero”.

Not. _**Her.**_

The usual suspects had caught up to us, only this time, they had a glazed-over Teala in tow.

So much for being safe...

"All the world's a stage, we've all been cast in our various roles, and _her_ type is the ingenue.

And she's going to _stay_ that type forever.

Teala, Aundrea, if you would take our lovely princesses please”.

"Yes, my lady”.

In perfect synch, so _creepy-!_

They lunged, and had Mystic and Sierra captured in seconds!

They struggled, we tried to help-

I couldn’t move.

Something was stopping me-

Ivy looked as if she were going to be letting out every swear in the book.

"Types are meant to be broken!" the former yelled.

"Not in this production”.

"I never auditioned for this show. I never even signed up for your drama club!"

"Well it's too late to re-audition, let alone recast”.

They vanished.

…

We could just go back and get them, right?

**Right!?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mystic x Ivy has sailed-


	16. Liar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth is almost here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're in so much trouble-

**“Iv** y!”

I gritted my teeth.

Spun to her, free of whatever influence had been holding me back-

“Way ahead of ye”.

-

Appearing in double-time, we launched vines to an open window, seeing them appear at the frame-

"Le's move!"

"How did you even get here so quickly?" Sierra asked.

"Plot convenience. Now le's go!"

They grabbed on, and we lifted them into the sky-

"Mystic!” Eva cried out, “"Sierra! -Look, I know you just got back, and you still don't have Teala or Andrea, but we need to leave the North Pole. Like, now!"

"Yeah, not gonna happen”.

She rolled her eyes, and I h **ad to resist the urge to snap at her.**

"I appreciate you trying to lighten the mood with a joke, but these elves have just started being nice to me. I'm not leaving”.

"No, Mystic!”

Alice-

"This is no joke. This is serious. Tana found these in the library”.

They must’ve climbed up to meet her.

"So?"

**Don’t. Blow** up-

"Look at the note”.

She did.

Her eyes grew as huge as dinner plates.

"Oh f*. I'm so f*d!”

"Not if we leave now”, Eva reassured her.

"I don't think they know that we know--"

The whirring machinery stopped.

The lights flickered out…

"Oh don't worry”.

Marching.

_Marching-_

Elves.

Carrying a throne.

A glowing tiara.

Too-wide smiles, they were almost like-

_D-dolls…_

I **shuddered.**

"We know that you know”.

"And I'm afraid we can't let you leave”.

"You see, our current power source is nearly drained of her innocence and in a matter of days, she'll be dead”.

Would her name happen to be ‘Sugarbelle’?

Just their sweet revenge against the one who’d wronged them.

"So you want me to die? Is that it?"

"Oh no, Princess”, they said as one, "We don't wish to kill you”.

"We've done the calculations, and your innocence is so strong that it can replicate itself”.

"We'll never run out of power once you become our source. And you'd be treated like the princess you really are”.

So they lied about hating her, then.

Of _course_ they did.

They lied, about _everything._

I’d suspected it from the v **ery start.**

They started to advance towards us…

"Wait, wait, wait”.

Safiya pointed-

"What's that gold thing?"

The elf in question withdrew it from their pocket, how-

How had they gotten ahold of-!?

"Oh, this was just something I found”.

How do you randomly find something like that!!?

Penelope pulled out our hard-won Tokens, and that’s who’d had them!

I took a mental note to remember-

"It's a part of the next token”.

No kidding.

"The next token? Could we have it?"

"We'll give it to you in exchange for Mystic”.

No.

Even if she **_did_ drive me up the wall.**

"What if we were to.....have a competition or something?"

**Absolutely not.**

They huddled together, whispering…

"Very well”.

‘Special’ paper.

"Vote the most innocent ones into the challenge and then select two to compete. We'll be waiting".

What!? That didn’t make any sense-

Finger-snaps, and we were instantly transported to a sudden parlor.

About to sentence someone else to die.

But-

Couldn't we-

_Try_ t **o save them, at least!?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no...


	17. Inconspicuous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just thoughts.

_Vote two of the most innocent_ , or something like that-

It occurred to me right then-

Did that mean-

Did that mean Alice was in danger!?

…I wouldn’t let it happen.

I wouldn’t let a life be lost for this!

Especially not for such a tiny sliver…

I mean, what even _was_ that!?

1/4?

_1/8!?_

Was _that_ how it was going to be from now on!??

A million fractions so small we’d never be able to complete every last Token and finally defeat the Cursed God until Eternity went by...!!

_Anger…_

The floor rattled, and I tried to look like I hadn’t done it.

Though if I did…

_No one would have to die._

We could finish this easy.

Also.

That Tracker could come in handy.

_-Could’ve._

I had to remind myself it was gone-

But…

It was…so…tempting.

So tempting to go against all of it.

I didn’t want to make anyone more upset at me…

-I didn’t want to give in when we could do everything.

No one wanted to do _anything._

Correction: _Most_ of everyone didn’t want to do anything.

But _I_ wanted to do something.

But I kept being stopped-

But I still. Wanted. T **o do something.**

But if I _said_ anything…

What would they do?

I didn’t want to forget it…

I didn’t want to be _forced_ to go along with everyone else.

My he **ad began to ache-**

The floor shook a little more.

The walls formed hairline cracks…

-Did anyone see that!?

I hope not-

I don’t want to give in to it.

I d **on’t want to give in.**

I…

I h **ave to at least try to save them…**


	18. Liar, Reprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some foolery goin' on in here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somebody's not being honest...

Alice

Ohhh no.

Oh no-

I locked eyes with Mystic.

_Most innocent?_

Yeah, that was us…

But…

We looked at Bailey.

My heart _hurt-_

We didn’t want the poor bear to go instead…

"Okay, so should we have, like, a discussion about this?"

Safiya.

"Yeah, I think a discussion is in order”.

Colleen smoothed out her curls, a nervous gesture.

"First off, what even _is_ innocence?"

"I'd say idealism and belief in the good of the world”, MatPat said.

"Okay, we'll base it on that”, Nikita decided.

"So then comes step 2.....who fits that bill?"

Gazes searched…

Landed on-

You guessed it:

Me, Mystic, Bailey, and Ro.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa”, she protested, “You _do_ realize if I get stuck here, Lydia Waverly's soul could pass on to Alice”.

"But they just said you wouldn't die”.

Jc shrugged.

"That doesn't mean they're telling the truth”.

"I have two furbabies at home!” Ro cried.

"Am strong bear!" Bailey insisted.

"I've been there for moral support”, I told them.

"Okay, but we still need to put all 4 of you in because you all have idealism and believe in the good of the world”.

_No, Colleen-!_

"What about Lisbet?" DeStorm suggested.

A look of shock.

"I....I don't believe there's good in the world!"

"You've got a lot of tells on your face that say otherwise”.

"What about Lauren?”

Desperately shifting the attention-

"She's one of the sweetest people ever”.

"Okay, but then _Sierra_ would also have to go in there!"

The Engineer was pale and shaking.

"Because she's just as sweet as me, even though we just got her back!"

"Well, _Alex_ should go in then”, Sierra stabbed in retaliation-

"He's super sweet!"

"Whoa, if I'm going in, then Marly and Delta should go in!"

"Don't come for us”, Marly snapped.

"I'm not trying to die!" Delta added.

"Wynter?"

She shrugged.

"I mean, yeah, I guess there's some good in the world”.

"I wish the coven hadn't killed Cyrille”, Parris sighed.

"She was super innocent”.

"Londyn?" Tana spoke up.

"No, I'm actually kind of a b*”.

Ooookay then.

"That doesn't mean you don't believe that there's good in the world”.

"I've seen a lot of s*”.

"Sasha?" GloZell put out there.

"No, not really”.

"Rene?" Safiya asked.

"I mean.....I guess?"

"Anniken?"

"Eh. It depends”.

"Envy?"

-!!

“NO!”

_No._

"Over my dead body is Envy going into this!"

"There's no good in the world”, he flat-out lied.

"You _also_ have a lot of tells on your face, Plant Boy”.

DeStorm huffed, unimpressed.

"Justine also is kinda sweet”, Safiya went on.

"No, don't put _me_ in there! I don't wanna get put in a coffin again!"

I could see her tense-

"We have to, and Roi should go in there as well”.

-For his part, he didn’t seem that disturbed.

"What if Oli went in?" Eva fretted.

Oli stared at her, betrayed-

Erica about swooned on the spot.

"What about people that aren't as sweet, but still believe in the good?" 

"Like Gabbie? And Tana?"

"Okay, I think that's enough discussion”, Joey sighed.

"Let's just cast votes”.

-

Envy

_This is stupid._

I poked a finger at my card, and left.

_This is **so** stupid._

I leaned against the wall, and waited.

-

"Has everyone cast their votes?" Alison checked.

Everyone nodded.

"Very well. I will now shuffle and draw 2”.

-

"Alex”.

"Who is my opponent?"

"Gabbie”.

-

Judging from how no one appeared to be too surprised, history was repeating?

Or at least, it _was_ until an elf ran out and whispered to our Shuffler.

"I've just been informed that the rules have changed.

There will, in fact, be _8_ people who will have to face off in a Christmas Gauntlet.

I will once again shuffle and draw six more”.

_This happened before._

"Marly”.

"Delta”.

"Matpat”.

"Lauren”.

"Roi”.

"And finally…

Londyn”.

_It was fixed._

“-Okay, who voted for me?" MatPat said in a tone that meant whoever owned up was definitely going to die.

He never did get an answer.

-

"If you 8 would follow me, the rest of you can stay”.

“Good luck!” Mystic called out.

_1_

_2_

_3_

_4_

_5_

Five minutes later, Gabbie and Londyn reappeared.

"What happened?”

Joey was confused.

"They said we weren't idealistic enough”, the latter complained.

"I don't even know why my name was in there to begin with”.

-

"The first one will be....Oli”.

Eva and Erica looked as if they would burst into tears.

"And the second--"

_1_

_2_

_3_

_4_

_5_

Delta and Marly returned.

"They sent us away, said I was too old or something”.

She was offended, and no wonder.

"Said I wasn't innocent enough”.

...

"Very well. Now we will have three more drawings. As I was saying, the second person to go in will be...."

"Anniken”.

"Azura. And finally...."

"Alice”.

**No.**

"What the heck?" She turned as white as a ghost-

"These elves are sick”, Mystic growled.

And I agreed!!

They left.

_1_

_2_

_3_

_4_

_5_

Azura and Anniken.

"Great, more chances to lose our freedom”.

"It seems we'll be having a redraw again”, Alison announced.

"These elves are way too particular”, Andrea R. grumped.

...

Only the ones they considered the ‘most innocent’ could be picked.

-

"The first person is....."

"Envy”.

Yes.

_Wait-_

"Th-this can't be happening”.

"We gotta 'ave a redraw!" Ivy tried-

"And the second person is......"

Why bother.

"Rosanna”.

Knew it.

"Oh God”, Mystic whimpered…

_..._

_..._

_..._

_1_

_2_

_3_

_4_

_5_

Roi was back.

-

"He tried to attack one of us”.

Feed us all your excuses.

-

"Very well. The final person to go into the challenge is....."

Mystic.

"Mystic”.

.................

"What the heck?

"We gotta 'ave a redraw!!” Ivy kept demanding.

“The votes have been cast. There's no way to change it. Envy, Rosanna, Mystic. Please follow me”.

.......................................................

-

"Good luck!” Justine called.

"You've got this!" Joey echoed.

-

**I'm going to destroy it all.**

**We can take the Token sliver while they're distracted, and then we can leave.**

**And then no one will have to die, and Alice will be safe.**

**And that, will be the end, of that.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We'll see.


	19. Another Terrible Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Holidays are horrific and we're only getting started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feels right around the corner.

“This is sick”, Oli moaned…

"The 1920s dinner party was already draining enough. Why this?"

"Oh God”, Lauren shivered, "The Victorian party was horrible as well”.

"Okay”.

Sugarplum.

"You 8 have been selected to take part in a Christmas gauntlet. Before we start, I'd like you to look at the number below you”.

I didn’t bother.

"Remember that number because it's going to be extremely important.

There are 4 obstacles that you will have to overcome: on my go, you must grab one of the eight colored rings and then rush to the station that has the same number as the one by your feet.

At that station, you must down all 4 mugs of hot chocolate.

Then you will rush over to the pile of stuffed animals.

You must cuddle with them for one minute.

And you better do it lovingly.

Cuddling is no f*ing joke here!

We take it very seriously.

We will know if you hurt any of the stuffed animals and don't apologize to them. 

Then you will rush to a bird cage.

You must get the bird to sing back to you by singing to the bird.

And finally, you must army crawl underneath the Christmas bells.

If you make them ring, you must head back to the start of the army crawl and try again.

Once you have completed that, you must put your ring around the button with the number that corresponds to the one by your feet and press the button.

This will stop your timer.

Do you understand?"

No. How was anyone supposed to keep track of all of that!?

“We've got it”, Mystic said.

"Very well”.

-She was _so_ sure we would cooperate.

"On your marks, get set”.

The press of some button-

"Begin”.

“Don’t you do it”.

-What?

A hand grasped my arm.

“You’ve got that look. If you do it, they’re gonna make sure you die-“

“Alex, I don’t care if I die, she’ll be freed from all of that ‘Ingenue’ nonsense”.

“‘Ingenue’?”

“You know-sweet, innocent? That’s the way it always is”.

“…Oh. So-“

“Yeah, now let go”.

“But I don’t care if _I_ die, either”.

—

_What was I doing._

I picked up the red ring.

_What was I doing!!?_

I almost gagged on the hot chocolate.

Reminded me too much of that darned other, ring I still had to take care of.

Needed a set of bolt cutters.

But…

Down the hatch, I guess…

Ugh.

The stuffed animal pile.

I stuck one foot in, and had to seriously convince myself to put in the other.

_I…don’t evenknow._

How, do you even.

Just…hold them, I don’t know!?

I did my best, and didn’t get sniped at immediately, so I crawled out of there.

Feeling somewhat relieved.

-Forget that, it was the bird cage.

_I don’t…sing._

I…y-you have to understand, the o-only song I even remotely remember was some cheesy commercial thing about a hotel.

Somebody please still assume I have dignity.

No, I’m not gonna tell you what it was.

Alice

I got the ring, easy enough…

But that hot chocolate.

So.

_Spicy!!_

I drank one, and my eyes watered as soon as it had entered my mouth.

I drank two.

Almost threw chunks.

Swallowed, waited a few seconds…

Forced down three…

My trembling hands lifted four.

I _had_ to do this, but my stomach was rebelling, hard.

I couldn’t help but notice how far ahead everyone else was.

-

Envy

Thank goodness that’s over!

If anybody’d heard, I would never live it down.

I slid under the bells, and about jumped six feet when one of them went ringing in my ear!!

Ow…ow…

Crap.

I tried again.

_Because I’m a living snag, I have to do this how many times!!?_

With each shrill sound in my ear drum I grew more, and more irritated!!

Eventually though, I yanked myself through, and hung the sweaty, thing over its post.

Fifth.

I didn’t pay attention to who was ahead of me.

I didn’t have the motivation.

Alice

I flopped into the animal pit, my appetite a disgusting wreck.

Head swimming, I tried to cuddle as much as I could…

Wasn’t difficult, I used to do it with my stuffed animals at home all the time.

Then I moved on to singing, and I faintly let out the ‘Steven Universe’ theme song.

Too tired to put the lyrics here, I’m sorry…

In hindsight, I should’ve gone with ‘Jingle Bells’.

But, I aced the army crawl!

-Maybe because I was halfway one with the floor, but it was totally worth it when I dragged my shaky self past the other end, and flipped on the ring!!

In last place.

-

Envy

"Oh no..."

The poor girl would faint any minute, she looked so scared-

"No, no, no, please. I can't die. I don't want to die!"

Mystic ran over to give her a hug.

"Over my dead body are they taking you”.

I wasn’t supposed to hear it, but I did…

Sugarplum stepped into view, and I could barely hold back from strangling her on the spot!

"Well, it looks like the results are in. But there was one thing I forgot to mention”.

Tension.

_Pretentious-_

"The one who will be going in as the new power supply will be whoever clocked in first”.

Alice sagged in relief.

"And that person was.....Mystic”.

Liar.

“Uh, like h* it was!"

They came closer with their lethal gifts…

"Also how the f* do you even carry that thing without getting tired?"

"We work out a lot. Now time for you to go to your royal chamber, Princess”.

"Guys, c'mon!" she screamed.

Hands from all directions curled tightly around her-

"You gotta tell them!"

…

I was torn-

I wasn’t the only one.

"Please, you guys! Please, stop this please! Please don't let them do this to me, please! Please!”

-That sounded familiar to me.

It borderline made me upset.

"Wait!"

-She was halfway onto the throne.

"I was the first one to make it through”, Alex asserted.

"He's lying!"

Nooo, he’s not.

“BOOOOOOOO!!! _BOOOOOOOOO!!!_ **BOOOOOOOOOOOO-“**

Sore losers, the lot of them.

“Shh!! Shhhhh-“

Alice had a finger to her lips.

“Shut up!!”

Lauren, probably-

“SHUT UP!!!!”

Whoah.

Had…Had Ro ever yelled before, like this!?

"Check the times for the buttons. I was button number 4”.

They set her smack on top of it.

Gave Sugarplum a sheet…

"He's right”.

Her voice held barely-concealed discontent.

"This young man, whatever his name is---"

"Alex”.

“-Alex is correct. Mystic was button 7 and she came in 4th place. Alex was button 4 and he came in first place.

So we should actually be taking Alex”.

"Wait! We had a deal. You said that if you got a new power source, we could get the piece!"

“Did we?”

_Really_ tempted to strangle her.

Thinking she could take advantage and get nothing in return…

Were we even alive to her?

Infuriated, I snatched it from the owner’s pocket with a vine, and folded it into my palm.

Ah, irony.

"You.....you saved me”.

"You really think I was going to let them make you suffer like that?"

“…You really do have a hero's heart”.

She smiled, tears in her eyes.

"And so do you. You're not confined to ingenues”.

"How did you--?"

It was whispered. Nobody else knew-

"Envy told me a little bit about it when I asked. You're right, Mystic.

In this world, we can't play a single role.

We play multiple roles all at once.

You can be the ingenue, but you can also be the hero.

I know you've got a hero's heart mixed with an ingenue's heart.

Use what you have to help the others and help yourself grow into the wonderful person I know you're gonna become”.

"Thank you”.

She gave him a hug.

I wanted to cry.

We were surrounded-

"I know I might die, but I have one final thing to say to you all: keep going.

Push through this nightmare and grow”.

_I’m gonna try to win._

_What!?_

_I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna save her._

"And remember: “

_No, I can’t let you-_

_If I win, please don’t save me._

“if you're not smiling.......you're doing it wrong”.

-

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"That is a man who truly has a hero's heart”, Oli said solemnly.

"Alright, I'm done here”.

Mystic began to walk out.

"Let's just go”.

“Mystic-“ Ro tried to say-

"Let's go”.

-

"Where's.....Alex?”

Eva was the first to ask.

"Where do you think?"

“Oh God…”

Gabbie sounded so sad, I couldn’t look at her.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"We did get the token piece”, MatPat said.

"So it wasn't terrible”.

"He sacrificed himself…”

"Mystic, he was supposed to go”, Ro justified.

No he wasn’t.

I could’ve helped him, but he chose not to be.

"You know perfectly well that those elves wanted me”.

Uh-huh.

Tell me something I _didn't_ know.

"That's why they tried to see if they could cheat the system. If he'd kept quiet, he'd still be here”.

_…You didn’t have to phrase it so._

Nothing wrong with ‘cheating the system’ if you have good intentions.

"But you'd be gone, and we need you here”.

"Oh, so we don't need Alex? You think he was useless?"

I bristled.

_We’re gonna take this out on me, huh?_

"That's not what I said--"

"Enough!"

Penelope…

"Both you and Alex are needed, but in terms of circumstance, I'm glad you're back”.

I could’ve saved him.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"We're so sorry that none of us said anything”.

Alice, no, don’t feel bad…

"You're fine. A lot of people would've acted the same way”.

...Some more so than others.

-Flickering lights.

What was this, a horror movie?

A small silhouette could be glimpsed…

They stabilized.

It was a little elf girl.

Sugarbelle, I presume?

"Hi”.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Is your name Sugarbelle?" Mystic asked.

_Now,_ they figured it out.

"My name is Sugarbelle?"

"Where did you come from?"

She didn’t seem too forthcoming…

"It's okay, you don't have to tell us if you don't want to”.

Heel-rocking.

"Big machine”.

"Was this machine white?" Tana piped up.

"Big white machine”.

"Was there a box next to it?"

"Big white machine with a box next to it. A.....a metal box”.

"Can you tell us what you remember of it?"

Back to Mystic.

I couldn’t believe how _gentle-_

"You can sit on the couch if you want. And don't feel rushed. Take your time”.

Speeding there, she plopped onto the cushions.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Big sister brought me to library one day. She said 'let's play a game’.

She tied cloth over my eyes. When she took off cloth, I was in machine.

Fell asleep then”.

_Least he wouldn’t suffer…_

I _still_ could’ve saved him.

"And when did you wake up?"

"I just woke up. Big sister pulled me out and I saw stranger boy with dark hair”.

"Miss Alexiania”, Bretman gasped.

"Alexiania?"

He nodded.

"Go on…”

"Then they pushed stranger boy in and I ran out and up here. And time has caught up”.

Caught up?

"You.....mentioned a big sister”, Penelope took over, “By chance do you remember the name of your big sister?"

She nodded.

"Big sister Sugarplum”.

Called that a mile away.

"I think we've been tricked”, Mystic gulped.

No duh.

_"You certainly have”._

Wanna bet _Lilith_ was behind it all?

-

Lights out.

**_Screaming…_ **

!!!!

I protected my ears, my sense of orientation suddenly disappeared-

-Consciousness **out.**

Back.

Where-

**SNAP.**

A cry.

"Alice!!”

Red streaking somewhere else-

The lights on.

Mystic had vanished again…

Along with-!!

-

Alice

"M-Mystic? You okay?"

I leaned over the bed, concerned-

Head spinning even more from the whirlwind journey.

"Yeah. You?"

"I-I think so, I dunno where we are, though”.

"That makes two of us”, she sighed…

_"I can tell you that”._

And the red-head was here in a flash.

"Okay, look. I don't know what you've done to us”, Mystic snarled, “Just don't you dare take us to the Cursed God--"

"Hahahahaha~"

Her laugh was high, and musical. Um-

"Oh, you're so adorable, Princess”.

Mystic, why are you blushing?

_She’s evil!!_

"I'm not going to give you to the Cursed God”.

"What?"

"He doesn't deserve you, sweetheart. He's _far_ too evil for such a lovely, darling, little princess like yourself”.

"But.....but all of those times you----what?"

Confusion.

I was confusion!

"Well, yes, I _did_ start out as wanting to make my lord happy. But as time has passed, you seem to have somewhat....grown on me. I've become quite fond of you, you know”.

She sat on the edge of the mattress.

Close to her.

"You remind me of what Penelope was once like.

And you made me realize just how much we missed out on because our parents wanted us to be perfect.

I remember when Penelope was 10, when we still shared a single body, she wrote in her diary that if she were to ever have children, she was going to do her d*t to raise them in a household that was far more loving, caring, and supportive than the gulag she grew up in”.

"Single body?"

What was that about-

"If I had to guess, I would say that due to her emotionally-abusive upbringing, she developed Dissociative Identity Disorder, and that was where Lilith came from”.

“-No, I know that. But how did you separate? How did you get your _own_ body?"

She considered for a second.

Shrugged.

"Can't quite tell you. It was a while ago. But I certainly am glad we did, as I intend to carry out the very thing she wishes to, raising a child of my own”.

"So....why am I here?"

Mystic asked her.

Letting another musical peal escape, she cupped her cheek-

_Danger, danger, don’t do that-!_

"Isn't it obvious, darling? You're going to be my daughter”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plant Boi is not doing okay. Nobody is doing okay.


	20. It Looks Okay, But It's Actually Not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new ally in exchange for a crushing truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Suicidal ideation/mention of suicide, emotional abuse. Forced marriage mention.

Envy

I was going to **scream.**

Every.

_Single._

**_Time!!_ **

_Every single time_ I lost her-

“Oh no!!” (Ro)

“What do we do!? (Colleen)

“We gotta go afte’ ‘er!!!” (Ivy)

“Easy for you to say!” (Manny)

“Envy, le’s-“

I teleported.

-

I…didn’t wait.

Either.

I knew exactly where they’d be, and I knew how to get there.

So I went.

And I wasn’t going to leave, without them.

-An arm dragged me back.

“‘Old up there!”

“Ivy-“

“Jus’ ‘old up there a sec!!”

“Why!?”

“‘Cos if yeh go like yeh are now, ye’ll bring the whole thing down on their heads”.

Alice

"I-I'm sorry. I think I may have blacked out for a second. What did you say?"

…I mean, I wouldn’t put it like that considering I knew a girl who was blind, but-

"I said you're going to be my daughter”.

"Oh. Um, yeah, not gonna happen. Good bye”.

She hopped off the bed and was halfway to the door without me.

Lilith got there first, and grabbed her wrist-

"I don't think I offered you a choice in the matter, my dear”.

“-Wait, why am I here then?"

The interest in my person looked pretty low, in that light.

"Because you seem like a quality sister for her. But I wanted you to make the choice, you know.

Give you some information about it. Think of it as a sort of......sales pitch”.

_Ehhhh, nahhh…_

"No. I'm not going to. I don't want Mystic to be held captive and I don't wanna be held captive either”.

_Yeah, no._

"I'm not going to hold you captive. I'm letting you choose.

Of course, if you say no, I will be making you walk back, and there's a strong chance you may not survive the journey back to the North Pole”.

_Oh, fun._

Mystic teared up.

"No! Please, don't do this, Lilith! She's one of my best friends! Please, don't kill her!”

Would it honestly work, though?

"Oh, now, now, don't cry. I was only joking, sweetheart. Mother won't make her walk if she chooses not to be part of the family”.

Puppy-dog eyes?

Never would’ve flown with _my_ mother.

-She pet her head, and _purrrr…_

"Aww! You are just too cute, princess!”

_IIIII don’t know about this._

"But....why would either of us want to be your daughters? You're evil”.

"Just because I'm what you consider to be 'evil' doesn't mean I'm heartless.

When I barely know you or if I do any hate you, I don't care what happens to you.

But when I know you and become fond of you, I am very protective and loving.

And you, Alice, are starting to grow on me.

Now I wouldn't say you've grown on me to the point where you don't have a choice in the matter, but it's getting there.

So I figured I should give you the chance to make that decision yourself while you have the time”.

_Mm…_

"But why Mystic?"

"Yeah, that's a good point. Why me specifically?"

"Because, darling, you've gone through so much s*.

More than anyone should ever have to.

And yet, unlike Penelope, you've come out of it relatively unscathed and still believing that the world has good in it, and that's one of the things I admire about you.

The Cursed God is in the wrong to be treating innocence like it's solely a weakness. Innocence can be a strength in the right ways”.

"But then what's this all about me staying an ingenue?"

Man, I’m really growing to hate that word.

"Because it does fit you the best. However I'll let you fight the battles within yourself.

You have to tackle those first, anyway, or else you won't be ready to take on the ones outside of yourself.

On top of it all, I would make sure the Cursed God would never marry you”.

What?

"Uh, come again?"

"My daughter shouldn't be marrying someone like him.

He's a corrupting influence, and as Erica so bluntly put it, 'an emotionally-abusive p*k’.

I'd rather you marry a decent man, or woman, or person, or whoever.

I don't care who they are, just so long as it's someone who will treat you like the princess I know you are.

Same goes for Alice, if she agrees to be my daughter, of course”.

_Wellll, you see…the thing is…_

"How would you stop him?"

"I'd make him ask for my blessing, and then I'd say no”.

"And if he went ahead and married me anyway?"

"Then I would give him h* and tell him to be a f*g gentleman. And if he ever hurt either of you, I'd make sure he'd die”.

"But.....the only way to kill him is with these tokens we need to find”.

"Then if that's what we have to do, that's what we have to do”.

"Why are you suddenly being so nice to me? What happened to your loyalty to the Cursed God?"

"Darling, as soon as he discovered I was faking being innocent after our five-year relationship, I begged for his mercy, promised to work for him, and meant absolutely none of what I said”.

Oof…

"But you've brought me back to him quite a few times”.

"Because I knew you wouldn't have just given up. You kept running.

But I sense that this is wearing you down, so I wanted to offer up my help now rather than when you're just about to commit suicide”.

"I've...I've never thought about--"

"Don’t”.

…

"I'm sure Alice can attest otherwise, but I can feel that you've wanted to die, and have come very close to death.

I may be considered evil, but I love and care about you, and it would truly break my heart if you committed suicide”.

Mystic pushed her away.

"I don't need your pity”.

"Darling, it's not pity”.

"You're full of b*s*t. I wouldn't care if I was dead. C'mon Alice. Let's go”.

Uh-

Y-you’re just gonna leave it there, huh?

-And now she’s crying.

"You're....serious about this?"

Oy…

"If you are serious about this, then look me in the eyes and tell me with a straight face”.

"Mystic-"

She gave me a sideways glance.

Was it really going to be fine?

They looked each other full on…

"Darling, I have never been more serious about anything in my entire life.

I do truly care about you and want to make sure you're safe.

Now you can suspect me as much as you wish of being a fraud and lying to you, but I know that I am telling you the absolute truth.

I am serious about wanting you to stay alive and I am serious about wanting to help you”.

_Yeah, but…you did kinda…brainwash two of our friends…_

_You did kinda hurt Envy._

"Okay”.

What.

"I'll let you help, and if things work out, we can discuss this whole family thing once it's over”.

_Waaaait a minute now!_

_I don’t want to live with her-_

"Mystic! We can't trust—!”

"I know I'm scared to be betrayed, and I know that there's a chance of that happening, but she might be the best source of information we have right now.

We've been finding these tokens and token pieces by sheer luck and chance.

Lilith has been in this world longer than any of us and knows where we can find s*. So let's get back to the North Pole and get on to the next token piece”.

**Piece.**

I felt my heart crick a little.

_Everything’s in pieces now?_

_Guess I’ll be here until I’m sixty-two…_

Ohhhh.

Oh **no.**

_It’s gone._

_It’s gone, and we’re losing everyone!!_

Sooo…

You-you want Lilith’s help when she’s iffy at best…

But when _he_ tries to do anything it’s no good.

Ooh…that does _not_ sit right.

He is _not_ gonna like that-

Candy Pop

What a clusterf*.

I was fully prepared to choke.

Not in this universe.

To have more free time than I thought I was going to was a welcome surprise.

The toxicity still lingered, unfortunately…

D*, didn’t think I’d be this affected.

Whatever hex was keeping me in this body must’ve been getting stronger.

Either that, or this motley crew had somehow started to grow on me?

Couldn’t be.

I snatched a map from the Main Desk.

I knew what I was looking for…

“S,cuse me, did you get any new angels in the other day?”

“What?”

The elf leaned off the ladder so he could hear me better.

“I said ‘did you get any new angels in the other day’”.

“I’m coming down”.

Okay then.

“No, we didn’t get any. Why do you ask?”

“Well you know. You got a lot of ‘em here from nowhere…”

“Nah, we make them all ourselves”.

“Must be fun work”.

“I guess. The paint fumes can be murder”.

“I bet”.

_Do I believe him?_

“And no new orders”.

“Yeah. I can get you the manifest if you want”.

“Thank you, that would be very helpful”.

-Oww…

My aching head…

.

.

.

Huh-where am I?

I sat up from some couch just in time to see Alex missing, and Mystic and Alice ushering in the red-haired mess.

-I must’ve ended up in a parallel universe.

"Stay back”, Joey said for everyone.

"Joey, she's not here to hurt us”.

_Yeah, and I’m totally not stuck like this for the rest of this planet’s life span._

"Mystic, how can you trust her? She's been trying to take you back to the Cursed God—“

Plant Boi comin’ in with the hard questions.

"Well, why would she be coming back with us? To gloat about capturing us? No!"

She _could_ be gathering more victims, however.

It _is_ a possibility.

"She's evil and unpredictable!"

"And you don't think she has a chance at redemption?"

"Not at this rate! She's nothing but pure evil. Why should we trust--!"

"Well, I'll explain if you can just shut your mouth for a SECOND!"

_Cancelled._

He shut his mouth, but he didn’t look happy about it.

"Thank you”.

Their relationship worsened overnight…apparently.

"Lilith and I talked, and as it turns out, she's not actually working for the Cursed God.

She's willing to help us get these token pieces to end him”.

_-We’re looking for pieces now?_

Dismay flashed over his face, but quickly disappeared.

I had the urge to laugh hysterically, ‘cause _wow._

What did I do, predict the future?

"That sounds like b*s*. That b* is pure evil”.

"That's rich coming from a demon”, she fired back.

"Touche”.

"Anyway, is it really such a bad idea to trust her?"

“Yes!” came the chorus.

"She's been in this world longer than any of us. She'd know the ropes. She'd know where we can find what we need”.

Ooh…

Envy flinched as if struck, and I could hardly blame him.

"Ahem”.

You have something you want to share with the class?

"If I may, I believe I have a way I can help assure your trust in me”.

"And what would that be?" Bretman asked suspiciously.

"I know how we can bring some of your friends back from the dead”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Owww, I felt that one-


	21. Goodbye Santa Claus!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Off to a new world, hopefully-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to get on out of here!

Envy

_W-wait, **what!?**_

"Are you being serious?" Safiya echoed, albeit unknowingly.

"I happen to know places and people where resurrections are an option. Speaking of….”

Finger-snap, and Andrea B. was here and back to normal.

Teala as well.

"We should probably get going then”, Mystic said.

"Where to?”

"What about that Queen of Fiction?” Ro reminded.

"I thought you all were sketched out by it”.

"Well, maybe it's worth a try”.

She took out a letter and spent a thousand hours reading it over.

"Hmm…I…guess it wouldn't hurt to try. Where's the library?"

You _guess,_ huh?

"I can show you”, Andrea offered.

It was an awfully short walk.

-

"Books? Fiction?" Sugarbelle asked.

"Yeah. We're gonna need a fiction book”.

She zoomed off.

Returned.

"Okay, now what? I guess we place the book on the floor, and make a portal”.

_Without looking at it?_

What if we ended up somewhere else?

"I wish we had a portal”.

It appeared.

"C'mon”.

“Mystic—!” Lilith tried to caution-

"We'll be fine, what could be worse than this?”

_I could think of a few things._

-

Gold light crackled, and then-

I landed on-grass?

-Oh I hate it.

There were people in those cabins, and they were staring-

I hate it.

"Where are we?"

Alice sounded a bit groggy.

I couldn’t blame her.

"I dunno, but I don't think this is the land of fiction”.

Tristen stated the obvious-

"Wherever it is, I have a bad feeling about it”, Candy Pop announced.

"Oh boy! New campers!"

"Golly Gee! They look great!"

"Hot dog! New friends!"

People…actually talk like this?

"Hello, new campers! Welcome to Camp Happy Sunshine! My name is Carol Dontchaknow!"

O…kay.

Alice

Dahlia started to make whimpering noises from behind me.

Did they know each other before?

"This camp is all about friends, fun, and free-frolicking, dontchaknow!"

…What’s 'frolicking'?

“-Hey, what's that on your vest?" Mystic pointed out.

"Oh this? Just a piece a gold I found, dontchaknow!"

"Can we have it?"

She thought it over for a looonnnng time.

_"Weeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllll,_ I suppose if ya spend maybe a week or so here at Camp Happy Sunshine, you can have it, dontchaknow!"

"Okay”.

"Mystic!"

_You can’t just promise-_

"Didn't you see how unnatural their smiles looked?"

"Hey, if spending a week at Camp Boy Howdy or whatever gets us a token piece, I think we can survive it. I mean, how bad could it really be?"

Bad enough that Dahlia clung to my arm all day.

But I didn’t mind.

Isn’t that what Support Buddies were for?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPONGE I WILL PROTECT YOU!!!


	22. The Winner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsurprisingly, the tide turns again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it continues.

So next were uniforms.

"Oh, but it's a symbol of unity, dontchaknow!"

Quiet screaming from Dahlia.

"It's ugly”, Mystic told her, “I especially don't like the bright-pink one. It hurts my eyes. Can I at least wear the blue one?”

"But pink is for girls, and you're a girl, dontchaknow!"

Carol was mildly annoyed.

Probably.

"Gender is a scam, and I want my money back!" Lucy fought.

They glared until Carol gave up.

"Look, just put on the shirts”.

"No!"

Mystic stamped a toe.

"I will not wear that really stupid and, quite frankly, f*g ugly uniform, even if you paid me!"

"Mystic, darling--" Penelope tried.

"No, no, no”, Lilith overruled.

"I will not let my darling Mystic wear such horrifically plebeian fibers. She and her friends deserve the very best”.

_…It’s just clothes, guys._

_Can’t we walk away?_

"I'm with Lilith on this”.

_Orrr not…_

"I'm not wearing that and if you try to put it on me, I will take it off and burn it”.

“Yeah, I am too”, Lucy seconded.

“Same”, I said reluctantly, "It's not my style at all”.

“No-way-in-h*-will-i-wear-that-god-awful-uniform”, C.P. repeated for the umpteenth time.

She stormed off.

-

"Alice, Lucy, anyone else who wants to, huddle up”.

"Where?" Bailey asked.

"Anywhere”.

-The Mess Hall it was.

-

By the time the sun set, the mosquitoes were up, and trouble was afoot, I guess…

"Anyone else feel off-put by the uniforms?" Mystic started.

"As in, _extremely_ put off?"

"Yeah”, Ivy nodded, “Felt like there was somefin' wrong wif them”.

"Something did seem really off. And I feel like it's not just the color”.

_Maybe the fact that only the guys would be allowed to wear pants?_

"No, it's definitely not. I think that the color's just a distraction, but a distraction from what I'm not so sure”.

"Hey, I'm not entirely sure if this is related, but I did find it odd and off-putting”, Lucy contributed.

“Anyone else notice that weird sun patch on the shirts?"

"The creepy, wide-smiling one with the dimples and big, fat cheeks? Yeah, I agree. It's extremely off-putting”.

_I don’t know…seemed like something too small to make a deal over._

"Am really scared by this whole thing”.

The poor bear needed a hug-

"How did we end up here and not the Land of Fiction?"

"I don't know. Maybe I wasn't specific enough”.

_…_

_Welp._

-

"Yeah, you kinda just said a portal. Prob'ly need te say a portal te where yer goin”.

Mm-hm.

_These things_ do _often come in hindsight, don’t they…_

"So then what are we gonna do?"

“Leave?”

Seemed like a good idea to me-

"That seems extremely dangerous. We barely know where we are. And besides, maybe we'll be able to survive a week here. I really doubt it can get worse”.

_Ehhhh…_

"Howdy-doody, fellow campers!" Some Loud Guy yelled!!

"Gee willickers, isn't camp just the bee's knees?

We're all gonna go over to the lake and sing super-duper happy campfire songs and roast marshmallows!

You should join us!"

_Oh, nah, think I’ll just hide in my cabin-_

He ran away.

A lot of people looked like they wanted to barf.

"Okay, you know what? New plan. We are going to steal the token piece from Carol and get the h* out of here”.

"But how are we gonna do that?"

"I'm afraid we have no choice. We have to go to that gathering at the lake”.

-

“So that’s what happened”.

"Oh thank goodness!"

My eyes were a little wet.

For once!

Somebody was doing something!!

Envy

"I thought you were gonna make us stay here”, Candy Pop sobbed in relief.

…Would he ever live that down?

"Here? No, not here! I'm not that cruel”.

"Yer not cruel at all, love. Yer very sweet”.

“-But why do we have to go to the bonfire lake thing with those Stepford campers?"

He did have a point.

"It could be our quickest chance to take the token piece.

I don't want to know what Carol does or doesn't wear when she sleeps, so I think we need to take it at the bonfire”.

Huh.

_Did I…really need to know that?_

"But how are we going to get it without being caught?" Hazel wondered aloud.

"Well, Envy's a pretty quick retriever. Maybe he could sneak it away”.

"You want _me_ to do it?"

This was new.

I didn’t think she’d ever trust me again.

“Well, yeah. I mean, you snatched that piece from Sugarplum so quickly that it was like it was never even there.

Why _wouldn't_ I ask you to do the job?"

I felt my cheeks turn green…

And then greener when Alice snorted.

"Well…We should probably get going to the Stepford gathering”.

"Erm-“

Ivy?

"Actually, I wanna ask ye somefin in private, love. We can catch up wif the ovvers if that's okay wif ye”.

"I guess. We'll see you guys in a bit”.

See you later…

-

The bonfire’s sparks could be glimpsed from here.

I had a strong suspicion someone would be burnt alive.

We always _were_ losing people…

**Please don’t save me.**

I’d never have to do that again.

This time, _no one_ would try to keep me from doing it.

Right?

...No way in a million years.

Not in this universe.

…

If I even think about trying, it doesn’t go the way I want.

I don’t know why…

Well maybe I _do_ know why.

Because it cancels out their way.

Because their way is the _only_ way that leaves them the savior at the end.

Anything else won’t.

It’s-it’s so-

Selfish…

I can get angry all I want, but it doesn’t matter.

I’ll just be set back into my place like nothing even happened.

I can’t get angry because it’s no use.

They desperately need it, so it’s inevitable.

I’ll have to give up.

I have no choice.

Better to do it on my own, than in front of everyone else.

I just don’t want to hear ‘I told you so’.

I know.

I know.

I know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it continues.

**Author's Note:**

> Remember Thanksgiving exists.
> 
> Candy Pop is Jesterca/Grimace Jester's character.


End file.
